robogabo - Daily Robo sketches & Mo

[gaboartpage]

Hello everybody,
My name is Gabriel
I'm a sketchbooks forum junkie

My artistic statement is:
There are so many
. .soooo many amazing artist out
there and in this world of so much
visual media information
sometimes
audience wants to receive a message
and go on with their life's
some artist prefer to do
1 illustration that will create
a profound impact and be remembered forever,
so maybe spending a lot of time on
it is the way to go,
i want to communicate many subjects
there are so many things to show
so i prefer a more impressionistic
quick glance of something to convey
the message and go on to the next part
in this rushed life.

so ill try make posts that have on they
not much than a day or a couple of hours
and hoping they entertain you or interest you
for a moment

Step1
make the concept
try do a top view and side view
of the vehicle visualizing a contrast
or armony in shapes and a interesting variety
i choosed side view in perspective so silhouette
is important here



Step2
Create the perspectived linework drawing
and choose the lighting direction to better
show form i liked the idea of cast
shadows on overlapping objects
so decided this and to show roundness of back motor



Step 2.5
i select the linework and contract the selection
and erase to make linework thinner and do a
value blob behind and then start rendering it

Step3
Render in B&W using a hard brush
then on opacity blend the edges of values
(i need to get better at that)
do a layer on top and constrain objects to certain
values or also select them and lower the contrast or modify
brightness, pilot value range between 80 to 100 stripes
maybe 20 to 35 etc etc then color balance it
trying to make cool shadows warm lights or viceversa
and add noise . . done

maybe i should had use the airbrush . . .

[gaboartpage]

alright heres another
using the same method
going for a more 3/4 view
this time, had to redesign it
on the run . . i guess i should
use some feather or soften
some of those edges
specially on far part of
cast shadow on the floor

quak quak

[gaboartpage]

ok so now lets try the same
approach but with a character
im using the book about costume design
on the page of french army i think

Step1
do the overall proportion and division
weight and rythim, it was too much
curvy so i transformed it or skewed it
and i tend to do thin figures so made it
wider

Step2
do the linework having in mind
the perspective

Step3
do the silhouette . . does it works?
do i see a human figure from far away?
yes, well you got a big part solved by now
plot the lighting direction and plan
the cast shadow on floor too... make linework
thiner using the method i mentioned on
past posts



Step4
if you listening to music this is the
time to do that air drum or guitar solo
before going on . . rest and keep up

Step5
Render and then maybe tweak
genral values of things remember
a black suit might not have that
0 value highlight like metal but
a more 80 to 90 value range
finish apply PS filters



you see that lance cast shadow going to the
corner down right ???
thats aaawful pld: dont do that

[gaboartpage]

Italy is champion of the world!!
. . . . .

ok

. . . .

Step1
first plan the overall concept
of the robot, this time im being
dirty i dont care ill fix it later
i just want to get started, make
as many doodles until you hit the one
that will keep you for hours in front
of the computer



Step2
Same steps as above, nothing changed
im really scared now by color so
ill keep on until i feel comfortable
to throw another ball to juggle
this time used an overlay layer
on top of everything to make some graphics
on the concept

oh yeah theres something different . .
i made this guy walking !!!! i usually do them
just standing there or flying so walking
was a good challenge



i want to thank my wife for all her support
i wouldnt be here without her, thanks Kitty

[gaboartpage]

ok this little thing took me
amounts of time . . . .
first i made 2 perspective lineworks
both where bad planned so the overlaps
covered parts of the design making it
look awful . . so after that had to struggle
with a curvy design wich is waaay more difficult
to nail, a little value change and makes it
turn the surface so is hard . . .

oh well heres another one i have to
improve and practice more, this is
not so aceptable

[gaboartpage]

first of all i wanted to thanks
everybody that wrote in guestbook
thanks guys
also
members at exclusive sketchbooks
all you guys are amazing i check your sketchbooks
a lot and now the exclusive stuff too
also
thanks for the inspiration at the life painting thread
to Joseph Kresoja, mermuse, abcart, main loop, jrr
and so many more that i dig you guys are great
inspiration !!!!

and yes . . i almost cried when i saw the
conceptartbook ballistic one, it was cool
to see some steaktron, james kei, android and sparth
in there cant wait to get my hands in that one

hahahaha sorry for the people that cant stand
this type of message

Step1
make the side view concept of the mecha
the arm is kind of a shield and can attach
a cannon to it, for this one left arm has no weapon
so you can see the hook where it attaches
the left sketch is the doodle of what i wanted
the pose design to be



Step2
again same methodology now diference
i made waaay less layers since this one
was mo complex i had to shorten time
helps to gain confidence :-P
this cast shadow was also little tricky to plot
not precise at all

some human form to help give a sense of scale



ill try do some doodle heads tomorrow

[gaboartpage]

Ok so heres some magazzine sketches
i like to spend a lot of my time here, is
a good and fun challenge to polish the
steps of approach to this ones
since i do lots of scribbles i do those
in blue pencil and "ink with" a hb graphite

my technique is poor but ill try advance
slowly and follow the form or planes
with the direction of the stroke havent
got confident to do the crosshatch technique
so just parallel lines for now

[gaboartpage]

ok heres some thumbnails
i usually do the anatomy under them
starting by a weight line or line of action
make head divisions and see the big
shapes turn in perspective making
effect on the cloths, they are few lines
for the porpuose of showing how important
is the first lines to be right if as artist you can express
more with few and direct i think is good
is my personal opinion . . .

some poses also following the same approach
you can see the blue lines and that
i went through other ways on the pencil one
surround the pose in a simple silhouette
a strong one the add details or curves if necesary

search for relationships within the subject
use artistic license to move things for a
more flowy statement

[gaboartpage]

and finally be able to post this
, i spended some time on this dude
since its 4 things separately

tank 1 and 2 gave me some time
consumption i didnt want to do generic
copy paste so each one is at different
parking angle and aiming too

the creature and last tank and environment

my mistake was the illo got burned
detail is gone in the monster

the texture on the polaroid is infantile
you can see i blowed it up that was bad
in my side i should had the ref
and made texture by myself

but
on a good note if you squint your eyes
or just see it as it is it somehow looks
like an overexposure photo having the sky
light and everything dark . . yes thats it
yes thats what i wanted to depict in the first
place LOL . . . .
when i saw doughbots TD at block forum
got really impressed, one of the bests entries

i hope you guys liked this one, a direct
silhouette with an uncommon delivery
by rotating it, hope you remember it



and for the exclusive part
heres a nonreference
i did today

[gaboartpage]

ok been reading this book
so trying to do some portraits
. . . or heads and really simplify
the form and amount of values
but try work the edges too blend them

depict my massshadow first
and stick to it then work my halftones
and then some lights even if its
couple of strokes try make gradients too

premie du coup is the ultimate thing
for a goal to me, theres some members here
that can do it and i respect that so much commitment
and risk in every brushstroke . . .

[gaboartpage]

ok so made a new portfolio to share at comicon
so heres some examples :-)

this is for www.poxnora.com
is a free turnbase multiplayer game









heres some pixel art for the game and made some selection
of my personal favorite frames too and characters that i worked on





there some more on the website, and heres
the portfolio thumbs, included the latest stuff



and todays exclusive sketch too
been polishing this approach

[gaboartpage]

ok for the last head studies
i use Photoshop, brushes are defaults
wacom and res is sometimes 170 or 72

i hope you guys are not bored of seeing only
studies and stuff i should put some
more concepts or stuff out of my mind

ok made this on lunch break,
the pencils only then
came home and next step is:

Step 1
do the flats, is important to have
a strong silhouette i hope in this
first part already catches your attention
thats why concept artists work so many silhouettes
is so important



Step 2
ok i accept it . . proportions look bad
and stuff but is quick doodles and for fun
and small format, gotta work really zoom out
if i wanna finish this for todays update

having preserve transparency on the silhouete
layer i do the main lightsource direction
rendering, having my linework on top

then
render on top of linework too and finish


now some more air drums !!!
KBB- Slave Nature (6:41)

[gaboartpage]

same approach same theme
the mistake here is leaving
some linework in places it shouldnt be
maybe making linework behave
in tickness or opacity or value
in direction with the lightsource
would be a better idea

oh well

[gaboartpage]

some more head sketches
this time, i sharpened the pencil hehehe
so i could get thiner lines

[gaboartpage]

well heres some sketches
it was cool to see all CA folks
over there at Comicon,
and i had chance to make question
at the panel to Moebius
that was so awesome

in resume i still have such a
long way to go, i gotta do color
and environments, and not just pretty
pictures
BUT IDEAS

ill keep on practicing
is inspiring to see the new generation
of artists being so amazing, i gotta
keep my own pace , constant and never give up
and have FUN



FIREBALL !!! i love it

[gaboartpage]

ok some freehand ref thumbnails
try simplify and do main values
of things where light coming from?
where does darkest darks go?
try have light wireframes if i outline
everything is going to look more flat
so divide planes with value not linework
. . . . .
gotta practice more more mooooore pld:

[gaboartpage]

ok now im in some
midpoint , trying to do
perspective, people
and a value study , is a lot
of balls to juggle
but is a good challenge trying to tweak
some stuff and do rythim lines
that connect people or guide the eye

again , even if i try not to press
the pencil too hard to not make
everything lineworky, i try to describe
shapes, mass etc. with value not linework

[gaboartpage]

more combos
trying to find rythim lines
organize elemnts by value too
technique is not very good since
most of the values are not constant
and distract or dont communicate very well

see as design more than a human, a chair etc
focus on negative and positive spaces

[gaboartpage]

quick sketchy
now i applied color right away
i usually colorize a grayscale
so it was a process full of . . oh crap
i messed up ,, oh no thats terrible . . .
it just makes me know i still have a long
way to go

[gaboartpage]

out of the tube color experiments
on the usual ones like cadmiums and
burnts, cobalts etc etc etc
wich ones vibrate more?
a saturated dark one againts a halftone
not saturated or the classic low sat light
high sat med and medium sat dark color
tweak and experiment

[gaboartpage]

same as last one, this time
i had my color wheel at the side
of my laptop, so since PS sucks
at color blending i tried to choose
the transition color also how the local
color will shift to dark or light
depending on
1)lightsource color intensity and temperature
2)same but for environment

i think im going too dark on the dark side
too dark that sometimes the side just looks
like other material or local color . . . gotta
keep that in mind

[gaboartpage]

wow thats some bad scan
the grain doesnt help either

[gaboartpage]

damn this last one got me thinking
so made a quick tribute to kow yokoyama
he is awesome i love Ma.K.

[gaboartpage]

mo color exercises
trying to render more object type
of shapes

[gaboartpage]

one before going to bed

[gaboartpage]

mmm this is different approach
on the fly, didnt do any top view
1) perspective lines
2)silhouette of the mech
3)local colors
4)render
5) add detail
again im trying to do directly on color
so it was quite a challenge but fun
also used one layer so it would be more
painterly approach

i should had included some more graphic
lines on the bottom fin specially passing
through the cast shadow to give a better sence
of the elemnts . . . oh well

hope you guys not getting bored with all
this exercises

[gaboartpage]

same approach as yesterday, on the fly
quick sketch . . it was boring composition
so i decided do a side top lighting
to break the symetry a little, i lost some
decal details while doing the final touches
seeing from far and thinking mmm i should
extend the cast shadow here and the like

cast shadow on ground really helps for light direction
and to see what overlaps what in light blocking
gotta pay mo attention to that



oh yeah today they said who went
next round in thunderdome altough
i disagree since i think my rival pieces
where not evidently better than mine,
but i guess is hard to judge artwork,
i dont share same point of view
with the judges particulary for my competition
of course since i lost
and didnt pass to next round
. .
i should work harder now
and present my ideas
in a clearer manner

[gaboartpage]

thanks to everybody for their support
and messages , about the pixelcharacters
i usually use the pencil tool, no antialias
and do the silhouette, thats important, focu motion
on contrasted elemnts or elemnts that are easy to follow
like circles or simple objects, once the silhouette
is solid i click on preserve transparency and work
with pencil still the main shapes, then use a brush
with soft edge(only inside silhouette) and do some
coloring

ok heres the process ive been doing
for the last posts, is different since
i try do it fast and follow instincts on what ive learned
i only see the mistakes so is hard to enjoy
is another exercise, must keep on
you can see how the piece gains momentum
and where i start showing all my lack of artistic
skill and go downhill specially cant seem to
tie up at the end and end up doing unnecesary things

a small tribute to those wonderful japanese shooters

[gaboartpage]

i do this sketches and just get me
all nervous cause is hard to control
sketch and proportions
directly on the wacom, thats why
Dan milligan is such a master, i included
the sketch so you guys can see how it
changed, so imagine doing a resemblance
one directly digital . . . really stresfull i think
lack of knowledge and technique i think

[gaboartpage]

mo tests