PixelFish: She Sings From Somewhere You Can't See....

[PixelFish]

I thought I'd make a sketchbook thread for myself, to spur me onto painting every day.. EDITED TO ADD: I shifted some of my earlier art to lower in the thread. Sorry for any confusion. The latest art should be shown both in this first thread and also at the end of the thread.

RECENT: returned to an old pic from 2009...detail shots of turtle

[PixelFish]

So I was explaining to Lise about Paul's Study Buddy concept. She thought that was nifty but doesn't have Photoshop handy. Plus, she writes, not arts. We modified the concept slightly so I could give her something to describe, since she wanted to work on descriptions. (Apparently her world needs more.) Anyway, I gave her a photograph to do a paragraph description (which she posted in her journal) and she gave me an architectural photograph to do a speed sketch with. I could choose Masses, Palette, Detail or Composition to work on as per Paul's original plan for Study Buddies.

I chose to work with Palette (trying to emulate the colours in the painting, in this case without using a colour picker, half an hour time limit)

[PixelFish]

Latest study buddy...


Also, shifted the initial collection I posted to this post. (For thumbnail reasons.)

[PixelFish]

Two more study buddies... (Friends pick pics for me to try in a 30 minute sketch period. The original photos are not mine, just something picked up to get me out of my comfort zone.)

[~KJK~]

nice rendering on the skins! they could use a bit more hue variation though

[PixelFish]

Re: My daily study buddy sketch:

Today I chose to focus on details.







a) Sketch with values.

I think the kid's face looks more kidlike in this than in the initial sketch. This is because kids' faces are so unlined and smooth usually, so when they show strong emotion you have to be subtle. Sketches introduce lines, which read as wrinkles and make the face look older. Subtle value changes work better to keep the face smoother.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44monkey07/503047437/


b) Sketch before value added.

Time limit: 30 mins



The other green sketch is my sketch for the COW this week.

[PixelFish]

Here's the sketches, underpainting, inking process for my very first COW. (Creature of the Week, for the newbies.) You can see the preliminary sketch in the post right above this one.

You can see how I took my idea to completion. Note that in the first sketch the Bassoon Beast had rams horns. I showed it my BF and he thought it looked too close to a modified ram, so I changed it to a nautilus shaped ear canal with tubercles.

You'll have to check out COW thread 126 for the final.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=138106

[silverrspells]

I very much like the iceberg-like heart there at the beginning of the thread. Stunning idea.

[PixelFish]

Today's Study Buddy: Lise appears to have given me hands to draw. I decide to concentrate on creating mass.

Time limit: 30 mins.

Source: http://www.orangecoastcollege.edu/NR...C9D9/0/art.jpg

[PixelFish]

More study buddies.

House source: http://www.notesfromtheroad.com/images/2008_09.jpg


Chipmunk source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpi...67554/sizes/l/

[PixelFish]

The first two pics are my study buddy from yesterday, assigned by my friend Lise. The first one should be about five minutes in showing the basic body sketch, and the second is the colours and clothing details added a little. Time limit: 30 mins total. Source.

.......................................


Paul Richards, the instigator of the Study Buddies, gave me this set of 12 studies.

For more about Study Buddies, check out Paul's site:

The original Study Buddy explanation.


Study Buddy Lite


To check out an EVEN BIGGER closeup of this study buddy, check out my Flickr account.

[PixelFish]

Um. I went about fifteen or so minutes over on this one, so prolly about 45 minutes total. I got caught up in the fur, which was actually starting to be kinda fun.

Source.

[PixelFish]

Sketches for an illustration of my cousin's military/medical thriller story.

[PixelFish]

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aknacer/2936151847/

40 mins?

[PixelFish]

The first one was me trying to draw Rick Moranis. Rick Moranis is hard to draw, y'all. REALLY.

The second one, more recent, is me trying to paint a wave using Jezebel's tutorial, which you can see here: http://www.pocketmole.com/tutorials/waves/

I think this was more successful and I had a lot of fun painting the frothy bits.

[The7Artist7]

Very cool thing you're doing here - keep it up!

[PixelFish]

I messed around with the layers a little on my wave painting. Lightened the sky, smoothed out the wave a little.

[PixelFish]

My final CoW from the Sound Cow and in progress shots from the Implant cover I'm doing for my cousin's book.

[PixelFish]

I decided to make an entry for the IAFcover art contest. I'm a sucker for roots and cracks aesthetically speaking, so I decided to work around those as a metaphor for creativity.

mixed media: digital photography/Photoshop painted

(The building is the Bigelow Chapel at the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is one of my favourite cemeteries, and one of the oldest garden style cemeteries in the US.)

[PixelFish]

More refinements to Implant cover. I've got several shadow references up in the lower left corner--some for colour, some for the shape of the shadows, etc.

[PixelFish]

Cover art for my cousin's military thriller novel. It's not completely done, but I need to move it off my plate for now. (If and when his book sells, I can always revisit it.)

[PixelFish]

Fan art in progress for Lois Bujold's fantasy series, The Sharing Knife. I decided I wanted to do a picture of Dag and Fawn from one of my favourite (and more peaceful) scenes. Dag has just taught Fawn to swim in the lake, and has taken her to this place he used to swim as a kid. So far, I've done a very rough palette study, trying to figure out the main colours I want to use, and started on the sketch of Fawn and Dag in the water. Dag is more treading water, using his upper arms, while his lower body hangs slack. (Also, the water will be dark-greeny-brown, and you won't be able to see much of their bodies below their torso, except for as shadows and highlights.)

For those who haven't read the book, Dag lost his left hand in a battle twenty years back. (For reference on why there's no left hand. It's not disappearing in the lake or anything like that. Also, I haven't yet decided if I want to draw a loincloth for him, or just give genitalia and let it all hang out, or if I should just let the murky lake water preserve his modesty.)

[bharat]

nice...art

[PixelFish]

Got Fawn into the picture now.....

[localfatheaded]

looking good, maybe try some more finished studies, really sit down and work it over, i think you'd be surprised how it could help you out, but overall looking really good!

[PixelFish]

Have I mentioned how much I like roots?

[PixelFish]

More progress on Fawn and Dag....

(I know a handful of folks think I should move up the figures, but I'm really loath--particularly as all the rest of my works are....you know...centered. Dead center. Besides, I think it will matter less when their bodies are covered up more and the background is darkened up a lot.)

[PixelFish]

Off to the left you can see reference shots of forests and standing water and overgrown banks and lily ponds.

I tend to have one window open at my zoomed in size, and another at the size I assume people will see the final product in.

[PixelFish]

So I've got some more in progress shots with Fawn and Dag, as well as my octopus which was supposed to be my daily sketch but turned into a bit more than a mere sketch. I've included some of the in progress sketches and inks.

Reference for the octopus is from my photos at the Seattle Aquarium. I took this particular shot during my brother's visit earlier in April. I managed to get some fairly decent photos despite the flash and despite the fact that our camera's lens needs cleaning. Well, decent enough for reference.


I'll probably revisit this again some time because I want to try my hand at the awesome colourations this octopus had. Isn't he a beaut?


...

As for Fawn and Dag, these shots just show progress on the canoe and lily pad details.

[PixelFish]

I thought I would try Bumskee's tutorial from this thread here and this is what I ended up with. I may have to use that technique more.