ShardBook ***UPDATED TODAY***

[Shard]

Hi all I'm a 3d artist that's trying to explore the second dimension a bit more..
here is some of my stuff,
feel free to critic! :)

[duoxan]

i love the last two pieces, always fascinated with the cold, the last two remind me of the antartic, or the emipire strikes back.
your values are great, keep it up!

[DARAF]

OHHH. Pretty stuff. I like . Keep it coming.

[Jonas Heirwegh]

Nice speedpaintings! Keep doing them and use reference for colors, it will help alot!

[Akitool]

Nice work man!
What software are you using? I like the texture you are achieving...

Keep it up

[RandAlThor]

Dude... nice work love that battle scene. you have really good sense of atmospheric perspective. keep up the good work man. ;-)

[Clodioz]

nice stuffs, i like the mountains!

[andy5]

Cool stuff, I really am digging that gasmask!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shard]

andy5 & clodioz: thanks a lot!! glad you like those :) actually that gas mask is still one of my faves :gasmask:

here is another quicky..I kinda liked it so I put a few more hours in it..
used a little texture on the cello.. :bashful:

[Shard]

EOW 57: An Underworld

[Trashy]

Nice work man! That last one is great from the eow. Great sense of atmosphere and depth.

keep it coming!

[-anubis-]

nice stuff

[Jonas Heirwegh]

Yeah that last one is great. Your best imo.
I voted on that one btw;)

Only thing it is missing is a focal point. It would be great to put something in there that makes the whole image more interesting.

[Shard]

thanks epias & anubis!
you're right something to focus on would make it better..might add a little figure later on..:wink:

this was for cgtalk daily sketch "newborn"
just to play with some weird organic shape and shading..also trying to play a bit more with color as my works are always a bit monochromatic

[Robz]

wow you got skill keep it up.

[Trashy]

nice little update shardana! That is one creepy little dude and it has a great yucky effect to it.

[that_one_guy765]

dude i like your pictures of the random places they are really good

[designboot]

nice enviroments dude! keep up the good work!

[Glottis]

groovy...

love the I luv Daddy

[Shard]

thanks a lot guys! :)

here is one attempt at C.O.W.

[Shobunkin]

Cool environments... I like them. You do a very good job of rendering light through windows. Keep on posting stuff!

[Shard]

thanks for stopping by guys! :)
back to environments so here's the latest..
playing with brushes, lights and color,
hope you like it!:painting:

[Eric Cartman]

great sb!!

[Shard]

the previous one kinda inspired me this..I was playing with it until photoshop crashed :uzi2:
luckily I managed to grab a screenshot before it died completely..and now I'm not going to keep working on it so this is what I got..

[Shard]

another go at the COW!

[Basil]

nice works shar,

this (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=157191&stc=1&d=1182452997) enviro is looking especially nice, but i agree about the focal point not being defined. this (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=150155&stc=1&d=1181247183) is one of my favorites, because it has a clear point of interest. i also like the 3 images in post #6.. they are some of your strongest comps, but the saturated magenta is really distracting. imho, they would be great ones to scale up and then paint over.

keep up the good work :)

[Shard]

thanks notspecialist..I should revisit some of my stuff as nothing is really finished..I have to force myself down and take some to a more tidy level..:scribble:

this was made for EOW "command center.."

[coldrum]

great speedies!

[Shard]

long time no update..been busy and stuff..
but here's a little one i finished today! :D

an armed commander observes a creature in an apocalyptic landscape..

[Saturns Gate]

Last one is very dramatic, good storytelling bud. Allthough maybe if you faded the big dude in the background out ever so slightly it could give the piece more depth. :) keep up the great work my friend!

[Smarty]

wow that last one is so atmospheric and cool, a real sense of scale. I love your enviroments aswell, the command centre has a nice simple colour scheme.

you people and COWS are a little hit and miss, i suggest breaking open a sketchbook and pencil and doing some life studies. On paper, mainly because then you dont have to worry avout anything software.

[Robz]

awesome man, keep up the good work. i see lots of progress since the first post, are you using a tablet or a cintiq

[Shadowfang]

wow, i personally think (if your not already) should be in the game design industry, the landscapes you have drawn, wow, you have some serious talent her man, and i respect and appreciate your work, and your effort of posting such incredible peices, some are a bit..weird XD like the i love daddy one, though i laughed..., i soon found myself questioning why haha ^^ well, keep at it man, if you arent in some art industry (WHICH YOU SHOULD BE) hit it up, your work has inspired me to strive farther into my works, and begin working on landscapes and finding where my true form lies, ^^ art.. is really about who we are, and when we create something.., that shows true composition, true passion, true feeling..., often times no one understands the reason why., but we do.., we.., artists, the creators of our own worlds, paint every vision around us, we live in facades, ^^ piece by piece ~Shadowfang

[Shard]

Saturns Gate: thanks man yeah I tried that but didnt really want to lose any detail on the monster thinghy so i decided to keep it pretty near to the comander also for a more sense of danger!

smartkyle:thanks a lot, i should relly try something more traditional, altho i love the freedom you get in digital, love the undo and ability to experiment with colors so easily!:P

Robz: thanks dude i'm using a tablet at the moment.. who knows maybe later on!

Shadowfang: wow thanks for your kind words, glad i've been somewhat of an inspiration, keep working hard that's the secret! yeah i'm working in the industry as a 3d artist..couldnt draw anything till about a year ago and wanted to learn also as to change a bit as i couldnt be bothered to do something for myself in 3d after a long day work! thanks again for your comment, very appreciated!

[Saturns Gate]

Hey man, awesome imagination you got going on here! Keep this up and you will be a force to be reckoned with I am sure! :) LOVE the Throne painting!
well deserved 4 stars for you!

[Shadowfang]

indeed i shall, and thank you ^^, art is my life, me and my friend are currently beginning a comic-flash animation, it should be pretty awesome, we currently havent named it... much is in concept XD, but, keep at your work man im loving your style , and yet you are an inspiration, ~Ryan

[Shard]

a quicky i did for cgtalk daily sketch "aztec warrior"..
no reference used at all that's why the pose kinda sucks and he's supposed to hold a spear or something.. not that clear :shrug: ..might revisit it later!

[funfetus]

Wow, great environments! I'm jealous -- I can't paint environments for shit. Your character skills are lagging behind a bit, though -- do some serious study on anatomy and proportion, and as much life drawing as you can, and get em up to the level of your environment work. Then you'll be truly formidable.

[Kabluey]

nice work man, I particularly like the enviroments as they show so much detail which gives them awesome character.

[Shard]

thanks guys!! yeah my char skills are still weak at the moment..find anatomy studies really boring and hard lol..

this is something i did yesterday..
spirit guide..

[RES]

Ha Ha Ha I see you.

Now get back to maya you 3D Monkey:wink:. I like your armed commander observes a creature in an apocalyptic landscape but you already know that, top work chap.

[ACRO]

landscapes are sick my dude damn

[Shard]

and this is something i just finished..wanted to play a bit more with colour as i always end up with monochromatic stuff,
also tried to get a traditional feel to it..
perspective its a bit screwed here and there, didnt used any ref so..
anyways hope u like it.

[Shard]

:yawn:

edit: updated pic.

[iMaiM]

Kickass landscapes, man. They capture a lot of atmosphere / mood.

And the cat in the last one...where do I get one? >=)

[Shard]

kind of a wip..
any feedback on the anatomy would be great!!

[enthombed]

nice paints dude, i really like these enviroments.

keep posting

[Eponine]

very nice work. the guy playing the cello.. and the weird creature with gas mask? very very interessting! Awsome work.. Love your enviromental work too... :) atmospheric!

[SMILEFACE]

dig your sb nice variety lets see some mo 8)

[Shard]

thanks a lot guys!! :D
this is a speedy i managed to get at lunchtime, with about another hour of messing around now..

[Shard]

long time i dont post anything..been kinda busy but gonna try and keep up a bit more now..

here's some quickies born out of tests, or stuff i started and never managed to finish or submit like the one for the "centre of the labirinth" EOW.

[Nightblue]

These are great environment sketches. Love the imagination and the color!

How do you handle perspective? Do you start from guidelines and grids?

[Shard]

hey nightblue thanks! :)

i usually dont handle perspective at all and just guess it as much as i can :) in fact that's why architectural stuff in my works is always a bit weird, twisted and approximate to say the least.

i know its weird but i feel caged when i have to follow perspective lines strictly, i only do it if the perspective is kinda extreme like the last one i posted, (that i didnt particularly enjoyed because of this) otherwise i love atmospheric perspective and just suggest depth with fog and vanishing stuff into the background.

[Shard]

made for this week EOW "cathedral of lilith"

[Shard]

:mod:
practicing character shading..some ref used.
main focus was on the face.. crits welcome!:)

[Shard]

EOW: sculpture garden on the island of absurd :wtf:

didnt quite like it in the end..might recycle the background and do something else with it.

[Shard]

first of 2008 :steph: happy new year!

[Shard]

some changes here and there..still a bit off..

[Shard]

:medusachow:

[Shard]

some more playing around!

[voxelfog]

love the colors in this one:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=220651&stc=1&d=1192728269

and the colors on the visor in this one:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=278515&stc=1&d=1200056396

Very nice speedies. :)

[Shard]

thank you voxelfog! :D
these images are related as one of them let to the other..

[Lander]

I really like your creatures agains black. The exoskelton robot looks a little off in the perspective. Like the tummy doesn't fit the angle of the body.

[MeTaL-Mike]

Yeah dude, the buttrock should be here too!!! love your paintings nice stuff. Posemaniacs is a great website. glad you like it. cheers man

[Shard]

some anatomy studies, my attempt at amaterasu and this weeks EOW ..this year i'll be focusing on characters and creatures mostly as i'm terrible at it expecially when it comes of drawing from the mind.

[Shard]

some creature fun

[deadred]

your enviros are great (i kinda remember voting for at least one of them in the EOW) the cathedral of lilith and the labyrinth is especially good! your brush strokes seem abit muddy in some pieces, maybe play around with brushes with harder edges?

keep up the awesomeness :)

[Shard]

thank you deadred! :P yeah i'm forcing myslef to use 100% opacity and just go with the pen pressure..that's helping a lot and yeah gotta dump those soft brushes..
anyway here's some stuff i've been doing since last update.
some cows,chows and eows /m\ \w/

[Nettle_Mountain]

I like your progress with digital domain, you are right anatomy and drawing from imagination woul be a recept for you.

How do you shadow? you might not like this but there is a bit too much black in your pictures, could you replace it with coloured shadows instead?

mening not doing necessarily lighter pictures but pictures with darker more saturated color instead of black

anyway keep posting, good stuff

[DeJakhalz]

wow just loving post 73 and the last one in post 82! Cheers

[kishu_sing]

wow Lovely inspiring work.!!:)
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=120897
www.kishorsingh.com

[BoiModl]

habitation bubble is genious

[Chate Noire]

The last piece is lovely. The bubble and everything inside it look great, and the colors are eye-catching and still rather pleasant. Maybe the red in the background should be slightly less strong and saturated.

[allocco]

mi piacciono davvero tanto i tuoi lavoro anche se non condivido alcune soluzioni ( ma cmq molto belli )

[Shard]

thanks for the comments and suggestion guys! :)
here's some stuff i did or started doing for chow and never finished, and some environment tests for deep..

[Surion]

Hey mate,

Really nice ones!
Those monsters wouldn't be bad for chow deep.
Keep it up man!
Cheers,
Surion

[Naomi Ningishzidda]

hipriest and vlad made me smile

Shardana I notice early on your archtecture and enviroments rock, you have skills in that area I lack. Then as I skipped through midway I noticed you lacke donly a memorization of anatomy on your humans

But as I go further I see you adding this wonderful architectural style to the figures and it works beautifully. I just think some anatomical exercises would really bump your skills to a point where your finesse with geometric form and imagination would fly...

awesome stuff

[Shard]

thanks Surion and Naomi! I appreciate you stopping by :)
you're right Naomi i struggle quite a bit when it comes to anatomy from memory! that recent demon was also to see if I could get it right without refs..still gotta study loads more anatomy!this was supposed to be the year of characters for me :oneye: i keep getting sucked into some enviro as i'm much more confortable with it..but anyway

some of the deep stuff I'm working on still very much WIPs
main idea and some progress on the engine bay..got some 3D help as it would have been a pain to do what i had in mind with just perspective..
still loads to do..:yayca:

[Arteater]

Wow, amazing works in here. Im going to keep an eye on this thread

[Aexys]

I m not able to close my mouth again... after seeing these fantastic artworks! Realy realy great!
Theres nothing else to say than I Love your work!

[Giorge]

The last one looks really grand , but as you said , you still have problems with the shading , start with basics ... go up to bigger stuff, you will start learning to shade bigger stuff, from shading almost everything ,practice makes shadows ^^, cheers!

[Surion]

very nice! as usual :)

Cheers!
Surion

[marioucci]

Man! great intricate concepts. lovely colors and composition!!!

Bravo bello!!!

Ciao

Mario

[Shard]

so..ended up slacking badly for deep and lost motivation halfway through so i thought I'd post what I've got as i doubt I'll be revisiting this anytime soon..

and also some anatomy tests/studies. crits on that would be great actually! :oneye:

[Ash888]

The painting you maid for the deep is awesome, I really like what you did with color.

[Arteater]

great work, fantastic colors.

[BANDD]

great work on the colors, different enviros and depth... any recomendations for starters on eviros? where you get your ideas? spacing out... refs... where ever they comefrom keep it up :D

[TOOLED!]

cool stuff man, i think there are some great exploration pieces here. and also, your pieces are going to get stronger and stronger with you developing, and getting more confident brushwork. keep it up.

[James Wolf]

I like the environments :) a lot of them have some very good atmosphere to them, and i really love the mars buddha piece great idea! I think your character work could use some slight anatomy work but very nice sketchbook :)

[Surion]

wow! awesome works!

Keep it up, keep it up!

[BlackMamba]

im so in looooove with shardana's work its so awesome :yum:

[Euphemism]

Thanks for dropping by my SB! I was amazed at the 'abstract orange picture' I saw earlier in your posts here; until I realised it was part of a much bigger ship!! :D Excellent details on your work, I wish I had your patience! :medusachow: As well as some 3D modelling skills, but anyhoo. :(

[UCT]

shardana, thanks for helping me in my SB.

Your environments are amazing, such vibrant colour. post 66 is fantastic, great atmosphere.

See you in the next chow & thanks again.

[Shard]

thanks for the comments everyone! :)

been away from activities lately..I realized i get bored of a pic too quickly and never manage to like it enough to polish it to a finished level..so this time i kinda liked what was coming out and forced myself not to abandon it..

so after locking myself in the lab for weeks i started building.. :P

[Shard]

here's the process and some more extra..

[pepps]

wow, i really like it! you always manage to give a great mood to your images!
the colors and designs are also wonderfull! Are you gonna do some more character work, or just stick to environments? =)

ps. i don´t know if this can help in any way but, i had your same problem of getting bored of an image...my problem was that instead of focusing on the process of painting i was already seeing the finished piece, even if i had been painting for like 30mins. This caused me not to think on ways to improve the painting and getting disappointed by the way it looked, and more importanto not really enjoying the time spent painting...now i´m trying to just paint and have fun, and the results come by them-selves....hope this helps in someway, if it doesn´t i´m sorry for spamming in your Sb xD

complimenti!

[Dahami]

Fantastic sketchbook! My favorite is the house in the glass dome on Mars.

[Me,Myself & Me again]

I'm with dahami that house rocks!! i want one lol
keep going this stuff is great!
^.^

[revenebo]

Wow. Man, you're improving quite fast. Love the steam-punk mech. And I like that close-up on the engine bay of the Deep space ship, I think is more strong than the final result (which is a bit blurry imo).

[Shard]

pepps: thanks for your compliments and advice, its true, painting for the sake of the exercize does make you more patient and lots of times leads to interesting results..
that piece was actually started just by doodling an eye for practice, when I finished that weird decoration, I mirrored it and tried to think about what sort of thing could have those eyes. and eventually done the rest.
i dont normally go from "particular to general" as its easy to do something wrong later but sometimes its worth the risk :P

as for your question I'll be trying to focus on characters/anatomy altho i know i'll end up doing more environments as a break so..bits of both really, dont wanna stay too confined to one thing only.

Dahami, Me,Myself & Me again : thanks! :) that picture seems to be the most appreciated so far..wonders of ca activities!! :oneye:
gotta rework that at some point!

revenebo:
thanks dude, yeah for the deep ship I realized too late that i wasnt getting right values and it was getting all so hard to shade properly so i gave up in the end

anyway this is something i did for a friend's band. nothing lasts forever..or so it seems.

[UCT]

shardana the big golden mech is fantastic. I dont think its blurry at all. I like the mystisism (if whats a word) of it. Its great, theres enough detail to explain it, while having room for the viewer to fill in the gaps. I have looked at it for about 6 mins and can carry on. It reads really well.

[ICH]

Nice sketchbook man! There is some really strong pieces here, expecially on the first page. The "Glasssmal" kick ass!
Keep posting!

[Shard]

thanks a lot everyone!

here's some anatomy studies and an old chow sketch i started for "icarus" and never posted..

[Surion]

nice update man!
love the anatomy studies, keep it up!

[Shard]

some speedies i did yesterday / no refs..
street piece inspired by sargent! trying to get more of a traditional feel and playing with textures..

[Shard]

more random places..

[andrea.bianco]

hi mate! you're posting quite nice artworks lately! i expecially like the b&w anatomy sketches and the last 2 speed paintings in first page, cool ones! see ya ;)

[oalexis]

the colours are great on that last speedpaint but i think the composition is kinda boring. Its too symmetrical for my taste

[buffichar]

I really like this one. :)

[Shard]

thanks a lot everyone!!

having fun matching anatomy to a random silhouette without refs.. :rocker:

[Vritra]

Wow, those are some nice environments.

Love the last one too. 5 stars from me.

[monotony]

very cool environment concepts!
I really like the one on the bottom of the last page.
and good work on the anatomystudies as well. keep doing these!

[Shard]

this stuff is getting quite fun to make.. dammit about time the frustration for anatomy stopped!! :)
it gets much better if you are not too bothered about how right it is and just go for whatever proportions are in place..plus it can lead to very interesting stuff rather than starting from a correct gesture..
anyway..hope u like.

[Shard]

moar!!

[kidult]

Cool characters! keep em coming - maybe on the value ones try add more contrast (i have the same problem)

[Feil Magnus]

Hi,
Some anatomycal issue in the last pic you posted, The shoulders seem too big what makes the colar of the shirt strangely drawn, the collar of the coat is a bit 'flat', it lacks volume, and the part of the coat which is moved by the wind is weirdly shaped, and the hat seems to float on the old man's head it doesn't seem connected to the head even with the shadows.
Concerning colors there is a good mood coming from this pic, colors are wisely chosen, but what strikes is that you took much longer time to work on the face of the man than on the hat and shoes, the difference on details annoys me a bit.
On the pic with the alien guy like wielding a chain, his left foot got a perspective problem.
Your environments look good otherwise.
cu

[DigitallyDumbfounded]

Hi. :^^:
Nice stuff. I noticed on some your characters the legs seem pretty short.
Your brushwork is expressive and I find the use of texture mostly appealing but in the last one I think it's a little too much. The pattern on the sky and floor makes it look uniform (or is it chalk brush there?).
Eh, ok. That's it for now.

[Mischeviouslittleelf]

hey man, nice stuff here. I like the dude with the tommy gun and stuff, but it seems to me that you are kinda stuck in a comfortzone or whatnot, so i would like to see you get out of that and get into some nitty gritty studies and other things that might be a little harder to do.

Colours also need work, so you should probably do some excersices, and don't be affraid of doing a bit more rendering. And remember to have fun with it, that is the key to doing it a lot. If it ain't fun then something is wrong!

Keep at it, keep posting and sharing:D

-E

[Darlene]

Hihi! I'm loving your works. You have a real gift for seeing the "big picture", 'specially when it comes to these environments, woo-ee! I feel as if you could sure teach me a thing or two about how to make a nice scene. :) You have a strong grasp on mood and lighting, too, which is are awesome attributes to put to the table. My only suggestion, as meager as it is, is to create more sharp lines in your pieces. Even simply smoothed curved lines would be all right. It's like what kiwigarbage told me-- There's more of a need for you to think about where the next line will be placed, and when you place it, do so with confidence. :) You rock! Pushpushpush, keep putting out those pretty pictures! ;)

[Lad]

thanks a lot everyone!!

having fun matching anatomy to a random silhouette without refs.. :rocker:

How are you pushing these guys out so quickly? Make us a step by step process because I would certainly like to know how. On top of this, you may also learn a thing or two that can help this process go quicker. Their isn't a better way to learn other than to teach!

Lets see some anatomy studies on the legs!

[OTTA]

I'm very like your matching anatomy make a random silhouette, It's great and inspire me more to think about something/someone in the other way. That's awesome man!

[Vritra]

These latest updates are real fun to look at. Keep sharing, and I'll keep looking.

[bombchu]

Jaysus. Everyone in this group is so good! I like the feel of your work... the grungier, monotone... the latest ones. Nice textures there. I'll look through all of your stuff later :)

[Psychotime]

That masked guy with the shield and sword is cool.

[Φ]

WoW! your enviros are just amazing!!!
love the glass-building on page 1 !! Great!
keep it going

[kidult]

updater duder

[Lad]

Lets see some drawings! Lets go lets go lets DRAW!!!

[Darlene]

Updaaate pleease!

[Shard]

Hey guys thanks for the kind words,sorry I've been a little lazy this last weeks..I'm actually on holiday on the other side of the planet..I'm having a blast on a road trip on the west coast from Washington to Oregon..Been to seattle, newport, crater lake today making sure we dont miss the good breweries on the way!;) and the landscapes/views/ppl are just amazing..highly recommended! I'll be heading back to Seattle in a few days and then back to uk next Monday..ill be updating and checking ur stuff properly by then
Thx 4 the support I'll see what u all been up to soon!!

[kidult]

Have a great time! Be sure to sample some brews for me!

[Φ]

whoa…………impressive pics!! specially the crater lake!
cool "playing around btw.!!
and the best thing: looking at your enviros you did so far+this holiday-experience…the result is clearly… MORE ENVIROS!!!! hehe, can`t help it, I´M an enviro addict……
keep it up!!
cheers!!

[Darlene]

Awesome possum! Keep up the great work. I can see you getting a lot of benefit from copying some of these photos you took ;) Congratulations on the trip! I may never get a trip in my whole life if I can't pay off my debt through whichever careerpath I happen to find.. :S :S.. Man the real world is scary. ANYWAY... Keep going! Workworkwork. PRACTICE.

[Shard]

thanks Darlene..
but dont think too negative! ;) with enough work and dedication eventually you'll be wherever you wanna be!

a wip for the CHOW

[Darlene]

Thanks Shar, you're right. It's better to stay optimistic and enjoy the present. :) Oh, and very nice climbing man. More characters! Let's see some more of a refining process ;)

[Shard]

here's spike and some studies i've been doing for the unicorn valley

[thesadpencil]

nice sb you got going on here, i like your characters a lot, however some of em seem a bit stiff, i think if you brushed up on your anatomy a lil bit more you would be able to achieve a lot more dynamic poses. your colors look really good, but they would really benefit a lot from slightly enhanced values, especially your light tonal values, just try adding in some simple highlights it will really help out a lot, other than that just keep up the good work.

[Feil Magnus]

Hi,
Nice pics you did on your last post, horses are well rendered, no anatomy problem, i especially like the light on the cave.

[Φ]

hey shardana,
love the CHOW!! you got my vote!!promise!
Q: how do you get this texture? just texture image on overlay?!?!
cheers

[bombchu]

Nice pictures :) Thanks for showing how you built up that character.

The black and white version of spike guy looks really great, and the finish does too, but the face on the finish looks kinda out of place, y'know? Almost like it was pasted on top. I d'no what it is but the black and white one had more unity.

[Darlene]

Man I love your character. AND your horses of course. ^^ But the character reminds me of the Labyrinth (the movie) for some reason. Like the lady with the junk all over her back.. Ummm, I'm seeing some awkwardness in the lighting, though. It seems like the highlights aren't light enough. To make that yellow even brighter, I think, would give a crisp edge to your character, thereby eleganting your piece up :D.. But you've improved from the messier style I saw earlier (those might have just been practices or not even serious, but still!).. You're doing awesome! Keep up the great work, and thanks again for all of your help :D

[kidult]

Great looking horsey study. Sick brushwork. Nice spike too! Maybe try define some edges a bit more, specially on the bits like belts, tools etc. Some are hard to make out. Then your poses could do with some more flair. All the guys look kinda block and stiff.
Otherwise looking good and keep it up!

[Psychotime]

Cool character.

[Shard]

thanks guys :)
here's some trees!!

[Psychotime]

Woah. Now those are just awesome. I can't wait to see em complete.

[bombchu]

Nice :) I love the 2nd and 3rd ones. Feels like they're moving...

[kidult]

NIce trees there, good going - try push those values a bit more. A nice dark and very light value help sell it more!
Keep up the good work!

[bharat]

just....awasome...man, i like that aenvironment stuff a lot....great....coolest....!

[Φ]

I hope I can re-animate your SB with this post! because those trees are looking great…but got something sad in them…

so heres the deal, if you post within 24h, I´ll send you a bottle of wine! do you like wine?

[kidult]

updater duder!

[wokjow]

Beautiful work dude, does not take much to see you have a nack for atmospheric scenes and a keen eye for dramatic lightning.Keep it up!

[TheGnoll]

SUPER ULIVI DEL MALE GO!
love those trees, esp the trunk cool work on the horses and chow as well, we should have a chat some time ;)

ciao!

[Shard]

hey guys thanks for the support! :) i've been quite busy lately with little time for personal studies that's why i'm taking ages to post something..

I'm back to 3d doing some cool stuff for that tree..unfortunately i cant show the progress or the finished concept for it at the moment..
and the rest of the 2d i've been working on is work related and still cant show much..


bigfooTrooper: thanks dude your attempt succeded indeed! hopefully i'm still on time for some wine :)

kid and wokjow thanks!

Gnoll: cheers dude yeah give us a shout sometimes!!

but anyway these are some experiments..hopefully i'll have some more to show soon!

[VanDog]

nice sketchbook!i like your character drawing!

[Darlene]

That's some great work! I love the improvements you've made on the tree! And the tree-like people.. hehe. Keep it up!

[Φ]

…shit…took you 22 hours…I owe you some wine I think…remind me if we should ever meet :D

some creepy desings! I like, more of those!
keep updating
cheers

[kidult]

great stuffs....more!!

[kidult]

Merry Xams duder! best wishes for new year!

[revenebo]

More! Your stuff rocks!
Just for curiosity, do you speak Italian?

[PeNcIl ReBeLlIoN]

Great stuff on here, I especially love them aged trees, you can really feel the mood....

[revenebo]

Surprise! Shardana is Italian! We're so few on this forum that every one I find is an event...
Why don't you join the rest of us in the useless Italian thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25308&page=2)??

When will we see you back in EoW?

[Shard]

yep I am indeed..but my passion for art led me to rainy uk!
i dont know when i'll be able to pull some free time to do some "personal" works..luckily i can work in 2d full time now so i'll probably end up doing large updates as soon as the stuff its releaseable. (or canned :)
hopefully i'll manage to squeeze a few hours from time to time!
thanks a lot everyone for the support! very appreciated!

[Shard]

here's some chows i've been doodling..

[Shard]

been a while i neglected environments to focus on characters..but gotta jump back into it!

[Psychotrope]

I can't even begin to compare to your work, but if I could say something to make your work pop out of the many, many digital painters out there, I'd say try and add just -some- more tighter lines to your drawings, perhaps just in the foregrounds. You applied them really, really well on your cello picture, and I think the rest can benefit from them. :) But really, awesome works regardless!

[TheGnoll]

that last enviroment looks great man!
they're def your strong point, and its cool to see you're working on bringing your characters up to par as well!

keep sharing!

ciao!

[Ricardo Robles]

woa this last enviro got very much strenght! colors are very well chosen, feels like it was oil color. keep up the good work.

[Shard]

moooooooo

[Φ]

holly shit dude! I love you!, specially for the first one!
WOW, keep surprising me!! rock on
(sry for non crit post, but such enviros just touch me and turn off my brain!!)

[Shard]

thanks everyone!! lol trooper you crack me up! :)
here's a WiP of something that's progressing very slowly..hopefully i'll get some more done next week..

[bombchu]

Woah... Awesome environments... Really crazy character designs too! I totally forgot how awesome you are :P

Sorry about not being here btw!

[Shard]

starting to get bored by this..doubt I'll do any more work..we'll see.

[TheGnoll]

whoa!

that last one looks really great man!

[kidult]

Nice job on the last one! keep at it, could be a great final piece. The orange lava stuffs is looking cool - bring some more bounce light from it on those creatures. Also maybe try an overlay layer and get some more hues into those creatures, they dont quite stand out so much from the background.
Great enviros too, on the next few maybe try a more obvious focal point, or just tighten up some lines / edges to pop some stuff out and catch the eye.
I gotta go work on my digi imagination stuff now...

[Ricardo Robles]

Great work that last one man!! Have you thought on adding more beasts in the distance?Very good work.

[Shard]

thanks guys..here's another one I felt it was going nowhere

[nurraymjo]

Man your stuff kicks ass.

[Shard]

some more

[Shard]

some zbrush tests with textures and the rendered scene..still quite a bit of stuff to fix but its pretty close..

[revenebo]

Last environments kick asses, more of them plz!

[Shard]

moar...

[kidult]

Nice updates, loving the 3d tree, welldone on that! I feel your last render of it in the scene seems a bit bright.
Nice creature, why doesnt the front leg / tendril have a rimlight? You could also add a slightly darker value with an overlay layer on the the head part just to round it out a bit more, just a dab with a soft brush, it feels a little flat. Good job on the fleshy colours.
Keep it coming!

[Shard]

:lifedrawing:

[Shard]

:rocker:

[Shard]

todays speedy

[Ian Miles]

Your speedies are awesome! I really like the "dirty" feel of the concepts, but there is ONE thing that, I think it makes the message of the picture a little confusing.

Everything it´s in perfect hard edge shapes, I mean, there is not enought depth of field, or lens blur, or aerial perspective to make clear that something is very, very far away than the other elements.

http://dvd.massiveblack.com/whit_images2.html#

[Shard]

thanks Ian I often overdo an unsharp mask after i'm done to bring the little accents out but yeah i should be more careful as it tends to make hard edges even when its not supposed to..
oh well here some more:

[Shard]

:painting:

[Sebastian Gromann]

speedies looking top mate !
i fAcking love #201 and saved it yay. THANKS :D

[fullmetaljacket]

Awesome stuff man, and enormous improvement trough out ur sketchbook.

And ur enviroments rock, keep em comming :p

Grts !

[Shard]

thanks a lot fullmetaljacket and SnobbyOo :)

here's something I just finished..

[jatherip]

WOW! ive never seen so many sick environments in one thread! man, how did you get these ideas?

[UCT]

shardana - I havent been hear in a while and these enviros are great, I like how you have ovbious marking making but it blends in with the general atmosphere of the enviroment looking stuble within structres and implied space. Thats talent in my book.
Your creature from 198 is brutal and that sppedy in 202 is jizz'm good. thats right,... I got excited. You capture the mood very well.
MORE!

[Shard]

UCT,jatherip: thanks guys glad you like :)
to get ideas I usually stack a few finished works in different layers in photoshop and flip/rotate/scale/play with blending modes until it becomes something different that sparks an idea..
then i start working what i see in that abstract mess to suggest things and eventually it all takes shape.
its a very fun technique to quickly come up with something rather than starting from scratch everytime..

working on some character piece atm that's taking ages so i needed a break with another enviro:

[Bagg]

hey man i'm really impressed with your enviros and structures, really great sense of detail.
Just wandering what brushes you use and how do you create such beautiful textures? :)

[Shard]

hey Bagg thanks, I generally use textured brushes to get rid of that clean digital look, I made a few textures myself using some of my old works as a base, its an ongoing thing..I still cant get the right look/settings but its getting closer..I'm trying to balance between a textured and a standard brush..I found that my early brushes were a little too textured and left a very strong mark..so shading was a bit of a problem (well kinda closer to what you'd expect traditionally but i still find it easier to play with opacity)
current one is a little softer it leaves a nice texture and at the same time allows me to blend and fade things out better.

its good to play a bit with them and make a few that fits the way you paint,
a great starting point are "M@." brushes you can find here in CA, I still use them a lot or as a base for new ones..check them out!

[Psychotime]

Great environments!

[Shard]

after reading about the wacom contest over deviantart I was toying with the idea of "good and evil" one night and end up with something I quite liked so i decided to go for it and this is the result..

damn I'm not used to do finished stuff..the whole polishing has been a pain.. took me ages, I got bored of it after 3 days but I've definitely learnt a lot..especially on being patient and keep at it :P
anyway hope you like..

[revenebo]

Wowwww! Creepy!! It's worth the three days effort (I have the same problem I get tired of refining an image and I must force myself to complete the work...).

Why don't you try and bring some of the last environments to the same level of refinement?

[Shard]

hey cheers revenebo! took way longer than 3 days was almost 2 weeks between sketching to the end.. but yeah i dont have much patience and tend to get bored of looking at the same thing after a while. not too comfortable doing characters too so that doesnt help..
when it comes to enviros I also really like the roughness and to give a suggestion of detail rather than explaining everything..still trying to find what works for me in terms of rendering..
should revisit some of the previous ones and give it another pass or two..
eventually! :)

[Shard]

more practice from imagination..

[Vulgar`]

Last one is immensely cool, I like the girl at the bottom who's the only girl not possessed. She's fighting, trying to escape - great story in the image. Now I know where all the gingerbread men go to die.

Keep doing you

[cout<mecha]

I've been meaning to say you're stuff is really awsome for a while now. I've never seen z-brush used like that before. Really love what you did with that tree and the background! Stop by my SB sometime, maybe we can collab...

Cheers!
<<

[Thor's Hammer]

Whoa, awesome work man. I can only hope to ever get to be this good. So where are these M@ brushes you speak of? I'd like to give them a whirl. I've been in a rut for the month and haven't really produced anything or done any practices, and I need to get back to drawing and painting. You've inspired me friend.

[Shard]

thanks a lot guys :)
something is cooking already!

for those brushes check out the first post in this thread and dont miss his excellent stuff!! he's also in the top banner.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=73169

[monotony]

awesome work, shardana!
haven't been here in a while and your environments are really taking of!
love the one on top of this page and http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=630854&stc=1&d=1238183810 this one.
you're making great progress for sure!

[Shard]

cheers monotony! been following your thread for a while now and your stuff is always inspiring!! :D

here's a war shaman..
perspective is terrible at places..I might work more on it but for the time being here's a wip

[Shard]

some zbrush fun...

[Shard]

more work on the shammy

[Φ]

uuhh, I missed some stuff in here! good stuff!! lots of nice environments! ahh, cant get enough of em:P

last one cracked me up. I really like it.
no c&c once more, Im sorry……but……keeeep et uup! :D

[firecrow]

yo dude! finished Shaman worked out well. keep them coming! Good to see you doing some Z-brush sketches.

[Shard]

here's more

[Shard]

bot portrait..
it appeared while working on another head study..
kinda liked the simple shapes I had so I managed to get bit of polish and textures..
all done in photoshop hope you like!!

[nurraymjo]

You have quite an incredible sketchbook here.

[meticulous]

Wow... I'll say it again.. Wow... Great stuff - I love your imagination man. Last post is sweet - dig those textures - keep em coming!

[SMILEFACE]

YOU have MAJOR' AWSOME' EPIC' POWERS'!!!! your enviros an creatures ROCK! an you KILL IT W' THE 3D !!! sssssssssoooo COOL!WOW!!!! YOU RRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

[Shard]

rofl Mr. Spect!!! :P
:tihi: here's another random zbrush

[Jamie Romoser]

Your last zbrush is wicked man!
Keep up the great work -Omerta

[Thor's Hammer]

Man oh man, where do you draw your inspiration from? Care to send some of it my way? I've hit a dry streak. Great stuff man.

[HerrleerzeichenS]

your zbrush are awesome, even i´m frightened, not sure i can sleep tonight :D

[Shard]

cheers dudes! :)
Thor: I'd like to if I could! I'm not always so prolific I've actually run out of juice at the moment :( I always go through periods of good productivity to uninspired periods away from the tablet. its like i need to charge up before releasing it all.
I've been trying to minimize this "downtime" but its really frustrating when you want to paint but cant come up with anything..its a few days I keep doing worthless doodles or just waste time exploring different directions but never choosing one..I guess some time off is in order!
so hopefully ill get inspired while playing call of duty 5! :)

[bombchu]

GOWAAAHHHH you too! You've done so much! Man... those creepy-face monsters look so realistic... And 3-D too? ... I gotta catch up >.>

[Psychotime]

Woah, that monster!

[Shard]

some random stuff

[kikindaface]

Awesome sketchbook <3<3 ! Your stuff is too cool ! And your last enviro is really beautiful ! Keep it up !

[Shard]

here's some studies after bargue,
i'm focusing on this way of simplifying shapes rather than the full renderings..
first row is 3 different attempts from scratch..i have the book on a side but i dont have a clue on how to measure this way. I think the third one is the closest..

bottom row was slightly less tricky, more of a progression of the same..

[revenebo]

Your environments kick ass. I'm jealous...
The last study of heads is great too! More, plz.

[Shard]

cheers revenebo hopefully i will be doing more of those soon!
here's an attempt to make the previous one slightly more interesting..

[Sebastian Gromann]

yep dude. that solution is much better. maybe u should also try to lead the eye a bit more, for now the big white/glow gets to much attention ( for me ). it's a pity cause the houses and some stones have a very nice detail level :) maybe u can solve that problem with putting some birds ( value 6-7 mabye ?! ) in the glow ... just a try !
öhm.... just keep rocking ... yeahh !

[Shard]

thanks for the suggestion SnobbyOo..I agree composition feels a little odd,
the problem is that I started the pic with that black triangle coming down and the original composition was kinda subordinated to that..I thought it would be easy enough to just get rid of it and add some element but it turns out it was a lot harder than originally thought..oh well

here's some more studies of brutus and faustine wip:

[Ninjac]

I really enjoy the classical feeling of your head studies.

[Shard]

here's some more for today..

[The_Flying_Dutchman]

The busts are interesting, nice work.

[Rotor]

Very nice busts. You know, this is pretty inspiring stuff and it's interesting to see how you construct the face. Also, awesome enviros. Keep them coming. :)

[Shard]

thanks guys!!
here's today's studies..

[Shard]

another bust..
and I've been trying to put what i've learnt so far into practice with the lady portrait..

[cout<mecha]

Great new studies and portraits. No complaints here. The last one is fantastic. love the character!

[Shard]

some study from imagination i started to try some oil painting brushes and technique..

[Rotor]

Hey, thanks for the kind words on my SB! :)
The flower experiment looks great, I really like how it goes out of focus on the edges, very nice effect. Keep doing what you do. :)

[Anurizm]

awsome sb, can't wait to see more.

[Fellah.]

Thanks for dropping by my sb, dude. Really great work here!:)

[jackpot_anjr90]

Really love your work! Especially the environments :D Looking forward to more :)

[B-Man]

Great stuff! I like this last enviro. cast studies are looking good as well. Cheers!

[Movenski]

this stuff's fantastic. what/where are you doing those cast studies from?

[jigje]

HEY Shardana. Love all your work. The ZBrush stuff really grabbed me. I started playng with ZB a while back and to improve my sculpting I started to learn to draw here using CA as my main resource. I also just got Charles Bargues book. You have everything Im interested here as a one stop shop. Your Z models are so great and the Iceleaf is really beautiful man. Subscribed.

[Shard]

thank you very much jackpot_anjr90,B-Man,Fellah,Anurizm,Rotor. :)
Movenski: the cast studies are from the Bargue drawing course book.. his method is really interesting although it feels very awkward at the moment as i tend to work in big shapes rather than outlines..I hope to find a bit more of a balance between the two at some point.
glad you dig jigje! :) zbrush is very good fun and relatively easy if you dont know much 3d. good to see more concept artists interested in it, its definately a wicked tool for us as well as modelers!

anyway this is my entry for this week's chow "saladin"..
still not too happy with the pose and the arm/hand holding the sword could have used more polish and some actual reference but i guess its good enough for the time being..

[SMILEFACE]

:ilaekae:ROFLMAO!!! WELL PLAYED HAHA YOU USED ma WORDS AGAINST ME IN MA SB SO NOW IM NOT SURE HOW TO EXPRESS HOW MUCH YER UPDATES ROCK! this is all i could come up w/:uzi::uzi::uzi2::uzi2::O:bomb::pump::anime:
:pirate::moon::muscle::bow::muscle::bow::bounce: :ninja++:<3<3:uzi::uzi2::mod::steph::harbl::D:D:D o' an the enviro an "saladin" are neat :D

[XuperNova]

WOW! 0_0 Your sketch book is fantastic! Love your colors.light and stroke work! Can't wait to see more stuff! :)

[Shard]

hands studies today..hopefully some more tomorrow..
plus last weeks chow and an enviro i had around for ages hoping to finish it but i doubt i'll do any more work on it..

[B-Man]

This last one is sweet! Good values and colors. :drinkup:

[TheGnoll]

didn't recognize you with the new avatar n name and everything :D

looks like you've been working really hard these last few months man, and its paying off so much, loving the iceleaf and esp saladin, so much improvement on the characters!
great great work.
keep in touch man!

ciao!