My Road To Mastery

[NR43]

Nice story!
The only crit I can give is that the package seems rather big to come out of his inside pocket
You should do a comic I'm sure you'd be great at it!

[Mu]

I really like the hand updates. I think you'd love Lone Wolf and Cup, btw. Do you know it?

The storyboard is great and also a good output rate, isn't it?

what is this, btw:
"DAZ posing software"?

[staticpen]

Rabid - Thanks mate! I really appreciate you taking the time to give me the details on this path/brush stuff. I'll give it a try next time I'm in PS.

alice - thanks very much! I'm glad you like them. Samura is a really great line artist. You can definitely learn a lot about stating features from different angles from him.

Johan - Thanks dude! The package he whips out of his jacket is actually drawn in the correct size. :p It's a silly movie, and the actual footage is of him magically pulling a big box out of his coat. ;) About a comic... I might try someday. They've always been interesting to me. We'll see!

Mu - Lone Wolf, yeah, I've heard of that. I've picked it up a few times, but I never got around to reading it. It's good?
I spoke with someone who has worked with storyboards professionally, and he says the number of frames needed varies greatly depending on the studio and their needs, but if averaged out, studios usually need 25 frames or so per day. So that's good for me, knowing I can push out 25 in a few hours. All that's left to do is really tighten up as much as I can while still maintaining the speed.
DAZ studio is 3d posing software - for free! It's pretty versatile, too, so it's very handy in checking general angles. You can check them out here: http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/studio/download?_m=d
Let me know if you come up with any questions. :)

---

A quick page from the life book.

http://fc67.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/014/7/b/Life_Drawing_16_by_static_pen.jpg

[alicelefay]

I sell products for the DAZ/poser community, so if you need pose packs for the daz studio figures, just let me know and I gift them to you.
Keep up the good work! :D

[razz]

Love the updates, Jason! Especially the interior pieces, very well done. Something I haven't really tried. Should make myself give a go after seeing these. Fun thing you might try with these is making the same interior differently, that is painting a night version of it, for example. Or a ruined one, burnt, devastated, all taken over by nature/plants or aliens,...The list can go on, but you get the idea. Again, that's something I wanted to try but still haven't. I will, someday!
Life drawings are always great to see. And do. Nice job on those!
I like the digital painting of a girl a few post back. Are you planning on working more on her?

[staticpen]

Alice - Awesome! Thanks so much for the offer. :)

Razz - Hey man, thanks for stopping by. True, interiors are awesome for practice. I hadn't considered messing with them in fantastic ways, though, so that's a thought... I'll keep it in mind!
The girl? She was really just fun with contour, and practice with the tablet pen. Even after all these years, it's still pretty slippery, heheh. But no, I had considered putting her into a full on painting once, but there are too many anatomical errors to bother in my opinion. She was referenced from a 3D model, so there are areas like the shoulders which don't fold and scrunch the way a real woman's would. So I just threw some watercolor-ish stuff on for lighting and called it a day.
Thanks again!


---

A few life drawings, first:

http://fc74.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/019/7/8/Life_Drawing_17_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc56.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/019/c/5/Life_Drawing_18_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc57.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/019/3/6/Life_Drawing_19_by_static_pen.jpg

I also did a Henry Yan copy last night in charcoal pencil. My instincts from graphite hatching took over, which was a bit of a problem, because graphite doesn't smudge as freely as charcoal. So it took some getting used to... I hope to be able to go back to a charcoal pencil sometime soon and pay more attention to how I'm using it.

http://fc88.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/019/b/1/Charcoal_20_by_static_pen.jpg

This morning I did a Rembrandt copy in pen. I feel like I'm learning a lot through my life drawing and hatching exercises, because I was noticing my technique mistakes very quickly and was able to correct them before I covered too much paper. I was also making pretty decent spacing decisions, which I noticed were better than they've been in the past. So hooray for improvement, hey?

http://fc71.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/019/3/f/After_Rembrandt_by_static_pen.jpg

And last night I did a cartoony sketch of a couple friends and myself from imagination in a style I used to draw oekaki in.

http://fc44.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/019/1/7/Nick_Carl_and_Me_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Damn Jason, every single image you post lately is such a joy to look at!
I love how you seem to be able to fit all those nice figures nicely composed. Like a jigsaw puzzle that is finished :)

The longer studies are really beautiful.
Sure there are minor issues here and there but tell me, is there a perfect drawing? :)

I must try to find those charcoal pencils... can't find them here anywere, which is really weird!

Thanks for sharing!
very inspirational stuff!

[staticpen]

Johan - Hey man! Thanks so very much. :) I really appreciate it. Hope you find those charcoal pencils! I'd love to see what you can pull off with them. They're a little tricky, but they are a lot of fun everything considered.

---

I did some work in a tutorial yesterday on specular points in spot lighting. Just drawing the diagrams helps to cement the ideas in my brain.

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/021/6/4/specular_points_by_static_pen.jpg

And then I copied some Capcom art as a celebration of my 25 day drawing streak. I don't know if I've ever had a full 25 days in a row of painting or drawing something. I'm hoping to be able to paint something for 50 in the future!

http://fc61.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/021/7/5/Alex_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Huh?

I want to see a 250 days drawing streak!! :bounce: :arteest: :twisted:

[TedNindo]

wow static I'm impressed. You really keep and keep advancing. Nice diagramms. I'm currently working on a armored soldier, so specular points are a important part and I start understanding that. So I think going through those digarams is very helpfull.

[danielh68]

Those sketches of ordinary people are excellent. :)

[staticpen]

Johan - Haha! I hope to see that someday, too, man. Streaks are difficult for me because of two main things: 1) I'm into a looot of stuff, like movies, writing, games, drawing, sports, writing music, photography, reading, etc, and 2) I tend to get really absorbed into whatever I'm doing... so long stretches of time can go by where I get super involved in writing my book or trying to beat a game, and the other things get left behind for a while. So baby steps, right!? ;D Thanks for stopping by, mate.

Ted - Yeah dude! Good luck on that. Hope to see it soon. :D Thanks.

Dan - Much appreciated, mr.

---

Some life drawings:

http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/025/1/f/Life_Drawing_20_by_static_pen.jpg

This fold out chair just about drove me insane...
http://fc64.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/025/e/6/Life_Drawing_21_by_static_pen.jpg

And some fun in imaginationland... I've been concentrating so much on learning new techniques and practicing that I forgot to relax and paint the way I do naturally sometimes, just for fun. So here's a bit of that from this afternoon.

http://fc36.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/025/b/5/Floral_Dragon_by_static_pen.jpg

[alenah]

hi, for some reason I somehow forgot about this nice "Speedpaints & Sketches" corner of CGTalk for a long time .. only now I "re-discovered" it again ..
it looks like there is so much interesting threads going here - and WOW - yours is one of those amazing threads! really enjoyed your your experimental (well - almost scientific :) ) approach here, and all your experiments .. (and - have to say, really amazing charcoals and "alla-prima" oils you do!)
lovely thread, indeed!
a.

[razz]

Ahh, wanted to do some life drawing myself today at school but there just no people at the canteen during my gap lesson (didn't feel like drawing chairs)! Not cool. Maybe I'll be more lucky some other day. Great to see yours though! Is it a pen that you're using for these?
Must say, I love this new speedie of yours. Maybe not quite the style I'm into, but a very nice looking image! The monster look more cute than scary though, hehe :)
Keep us updated, mate!

[staticpen]

a. - Kindest thanks! Your words are much appreciated. I'm glad you had a good time here, and hope to see you again soon! I have another charcoal today, as it happens...
But oh, I once hung out at an oekaki board called 7face, and one of the owners (?) there went by "a." It's a shot in the dark, but I just had to ask if it was you.

razz - Heheh. bummer about there not being anyone around on your break, man. That's the worst. I took my sketchbook with me to the theater the other day (slumdog millionaire... really good movie) and realized how not worth it is to do life drawing when you're in the room screening room. Everywhere you look it's just the backs of seats with a head popping over the top. Ha. Needless to say, I drew one dude (and his seat) and stopped. Better luck next time! And if no people ever show... well, I can say now from experience... drawing chairs is a chore! ;D (and yeah, they're in pen - though some pages are done with a mechanical pencil lately)
Thanks for the speed painting comments, too, mate. It does look pretty cute, doesn't it? Poor guy...

---

A half hour with a charcoal pencil on typing paper... referenced from some guy I forgot the name of. It's in the book Classical Drawing Atelier, anyway.
I think I need to not press so hard so soon. It's much easier to go darker with charcoal pencil than pick up a bold stroke that's in the wrong value for its position.

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/026/f/8/Charcoal_21_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

charcoal can be easily erased/softenend with a kneadable eraser Jason

An eraser is a tool like any other ;)

[alenah]

.. yes, I had a good time here in your thread, indeed :)

btw - I noticed - somewhere in your earlier posts - that you were talking/asking about the colorizing technique regarding "blending modes" applied over the underlying grayscale image .. not sure if you haven´t already figured out meanwhile -
anyway ..

in my experience - yes, blending modes may be pretty tricky - since they do exactly what their name is saying: they BLEND (MIX) different kinds of color/value information together (the "above" one with the "underneath" one, in terms of individual pixels), which may (or may not) result in visible hue/tone shift, as this IS their nature;

as far as I know - there are a few more possible ways of colorizing image - and - using blending modes in separate "colorizing" layer(s) above the grayscale image is just one possible (the most common) way of how to add color - but - when using blending modes, it´s good to know the mechanism of how they work (their "behind-the-scene" algorithm, if you like) - and - to be aware (and to make use) of the "possible side-effects", that particular blending modes may cause to your image ..

by the "side-effects" I do not mean any "random" behavior - since - in general - "surprisingly" enough - blending modes do not work "randomly" at all; Photoshop blending modes use exactly defined mechanisms, very precise and relyable actually - and therefore pretty easily predictable (with a little practice you can predict what kind of resulting effect you will get using which blending mode applied over which underlying information);

in Photoshop (note: this does not apply for Painter in general, as it has a little bit different way of blending, as it uses a little bit different blending modes, reffered to as "composite method") it is pretty common to use the "Color" blending mode (or "Hue", which is a little bit less agressive, but does not work for "pure" neutral grays underneath it) for colorizing the grayscale image, which is pretty safe, when painting with not too much saturated colors (!!), and - which at the same time does not affect the values the way Soft Light or Overlay do, but personally, I do not like/use it - or - at least - I do not use it "alone", I very often combine it with either Soft Light and/or Overlay, that DO affect the values, which I count on in advance, already in the early stages of preparing the grayscale image .. and - that is the "little trick" here (or - at least the "little trick" that works for me);

in other words - counting on (or even planning) the final shift in values (= towards blacks and/or whites, which results in increasing the contrast), and/or even shift in saturation (later, when working with more colorizing layers over/above already partly colorized image) can be "used" pretty well, when you know what you may expect from different blending modes ..

in general - each blending mode is differently "sensitive" for different kind of existing information (and has its own way of how to influence it) - which means, that - as a result - some color/value information you work with may be exaggerated, some may be subdued/lowered, some inverted, some may be even ignored etc .. it´s different for each particular blending mode;

I´ll try to explain what I am talking about:
for example - Overlay/Soft Light ignore working/painting with neutral grays/midtones - but - on the other hand - are "highly sensitive" to both "peripheral" parts of the tonal range (lights at one end, shadows at the opposite end; the same for saturation); actually - the greater the distance from "neutral" midtones towards either one or the other end, the more "sensitive" it is - and therefore the stronger effect you may expect (so - when chosing the color to paint with, you have to take this into acount) ...
or/and - accordingly - also other blending modes are "sensitive" and "non-sensitive" for certain colors/values in their unique way: Multiply ignores painting with white, Screen ignores black, Difference ignores the color/values (=pixels), that are exactly the same as the ones in the underlying image laying underneath the affected/painted area (the "same" areas get turned into "black", while the rest/remaining - the different - parts stay visible; and again - the bigger the difference, the stronger effect - this kind of logic is pretty same for all the blending modes), etc...

so - back to colorizing workflow - while Soft Light an Overlay are able to affect not only color, but at the same time also "both ends" of tonal range, which may result in pretty strong value/contrast shifts, some other blending modes may result in - let´s say - only "one-sided" effect, depending on what kind of blending mode you may choose: the blending modes from the "darkening group" (starting with "Darken") "shift" the parts of the image you are painting over ONLY/always towards darks (eachone from this group in its unique way, not going into details now); the blending modes from the "lightening group" (starting "Lighten") "shift" the parts of the image you are painting over ONLY/always towards lights, etc.
so - depending on what your grayscale image looks like (what are its dominant values, tonal range etc.) and on what you are painting with (what hue, how dark/light/saturated color you choose, etc.) - all this has something to do with what you may get in the end ...

looks a bit complicated, but it IS possible to get used to how blending modes behave/affect the image .. and then, it may work fine;

well - I am not sure if it all makes sense (sorry my limited English vocabulary)
and sorry for such an "epic-story" here :)
hope it might perhaps be of some help, if this is what you were asking about and /or if you haven´t figured out yourself, meanwhile ..
a.

p.s - no, that "a." was not me, did not know that forum until you mentioned :)

[staticpen]

Johan - Oh, come on, mate. :p You know what I mean. Thick, black marks are ugly and often can't be completely removed with an eraser.

a. - Ah, thanks so much for the time you put into your response! It's very appreciated. I haven't got the time to read it all and respond properly at the moment, but I will be leaving this page up so I can go through it when I get home. Thanks again!!

---

First, some life drawings. I was feeling the rhythm in the smaller poses, but a couple days passed between those and the larger drawings, so I felt a bit out of sync with those. I've got to remember to stop trying to use a pen like a pencil when it comes to turning forms in the facial area.

http://fc53.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/029/5/8/Life_Drawing_22_by_static_pen.jpg

I didn't get out much in the last couple days, so some of my figure practice came in the way of American Apparel photos I'd saved previously for this purpose. About 30 minutes per pair:

http://fc95.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/029/5/8/American_Apparel_Drawings_by_static_pen.jpg

With no restrictions or intentions to "practice" I tend to draw lines first and then paint in a cel-shaded fashion. This is me trying to merge my interest in line drawing with a coloring technique that allows for a little more subtly. I painting the man first, and you can see he looks a little overworked compared to the lady. She took half as long to paint, and I feel she looks much clearer than he does. Also from AA. About 1 1/2 hours.

http://fc55.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/029/a/1/American_Apparel_2_by_static_pen.jpg

Another go with the technique. Also 1 1/2 hours. I feel I'm getting a little more comfortable with how light wraps around the planes of the face, and where to add a little flushing of red where the skin is thinner. And yeah... the dude really does look that funny in the photo. :p

http://fc53.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/029/8/9/American_Apparel_3_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

The Australian Open just ended. I spent a lot of time watching that, so a lot of time I'd normally spend drawing was spent enjoying that. I also put down Lirael, the book I was reading (and wasn't very interested in) for Lord of the Flies, which I'd been trying to get to for ages now. Also, there was the Super Bowl, and I've been transposing and recording the World of Warcraft theme in Garage Band to try and better understand how a piece is composed.
I did manage to work on something every day, though, so the streak is still going. Habits are in place.

Anyway, here's some still life stuff.

http://fc22.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/033/5/3/Life_Drawing_23_by_static_pen.jpg

A 10 minute charcoal pencil sketch to warm up.

http://fc30.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/033/4/3/Charcoal_22_by_static_pen.jpg

I actually got bored of that charcoal pencil after that (I think I need to slow down with it, because I did a 40 minute portrait with just charcoal pencils a while back and it turned out nicely). However, I did place a stack of paper underneath my drawing and wow... what a difference! The responsiveness of the paper was so much better. Stroking with the shoulder of the pencil was so much easier to control. Values were easy to manipulate. I loved it. Thanks Chris!
A copy of a Degas painting. 15 minutes. HB pencil.

http://fc96.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/033/6/2/Degas_by_static_pen.jpg

I also started working on the Bouguereau again this past week. I tried some of the glazing stuff mentioned earlier in a comment and had a blast with it. Here are some composites of the previous state of the painting followed by the work I got done over the week.

http://fc30.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/033/9/f/Moissonneuse_08_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc49.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/033/1/3/Moissonneuse_09_by_static_pen.jpg

[Mu]

hi,

the glazing looks supergreat! Very controlled and soft. What kinds of mediums and/or thinners do you use?

[submit127]

**** u awesomeness maker, i envy you for your awesome skillz pack

[staticpen]

Mu - Thanks a bunch, man! I'm using hardware section turp from Wal-mart. I know you're technically not supposed to use it in artwork, but it gets the job done and is a lot more affordable than art store stuff right now. I do have linseed oil, but I haven't mixed it in yet. I'll start adding that more and more in future glazes.

submit - right on, dude.

----

More work from AA. PS, 40 minutes.

http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/034/8/8/American_Apparel_4_by_static_pen.jpg

I've been doing some quick studies and some gesture work lately, which I never do. It feels good. These are all after Kevin Chen, and done with either a 4B, 6B or HB pencil.

30 minutes for the page

http://fc95.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/036/f/8/Chen_01_by_static_pen.jpg

15 minutes

http://fc60.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/036/7/5/Chen_02_by_static_pen.jpg

15 minutes

http://fc95.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/036/4/1/Chen_03_by_static_pen.jpg

20 minutes

http://fc62.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/036/5/1/Chen_04_by_static_pen.jpg

30 minutes for the page

http://fc36.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/036/d/9/Chen_05_by_static_pen.jpg

[Rabid1]

Love the life drawings man, very dynamic and stylized!

[staticpen]

Rabid - Thanks very much!

---

Sorry, but I haven't been able to upload stuff in a while, so this is going to be a rather sizable update. Here we go!

First, I blocked in the shirt of the Bouguereau copy last night. So here's the current look of that one:

http://fc56.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/6/7/Moissoneuse_10_by_static_pen.jpg

I discovered over the week that my weakness (or one of the many) is gesture drawing. Quick poses. So I've been working on those a whole lot. It's quite different, because you have to use your drawing tool in a different fashion in order to be more efficient with time. Like, say, hatching is out of the picture, and hatching is what I've been doing all my life. So this is really helping me develop some familiarity with the shoulder of my tool and how to use pressure sensitivity to my advantage.
Here are some pages after Kevin Chen, because I really like his technique in short poses. Unless otherwise noted, they're 4B graphite.

http://fc19.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/040/0/c/Chen_06_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc89.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/7/8/Chen_07_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc63.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/5/7/Chen_08_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc18.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/040/c/b/Chen_09_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc10.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/2/1/Chen_10_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/d/6/Chen_11_by_static_pen.jpg

I redid these poses because I was unhappy with the previous attempts:

http://fc21.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/2/6/Chen_12_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc54.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/040/b/5/Chen_13_by_static_pen.jpg

Some life drawing in pen. It felt weird after all that pencil work, haha. Took me a minute to get back in rhythm.

http://fc84.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/9/1/Life_Drawing_24_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

After all that Kevin Chen work I decided to test my technique on actual people. It's so much harder than copying someone else's drawing. So many more decisions to make. It was good practice. These are after photos from characterdesigns.com:

http://fc15.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/040/f/4/People_01_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc14.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/3/0/People_02_by_static_pen.jpg

On one of Kevin Chen's threads someone asked what grade of pencil he used. He answered "2B", but he went on to talk about how he likes the charcoal to feel like paint. So I'm unsure if the look he gets is from charcoal or pencil, but I'm pretty sure he uses newsprint for the short poses. I have a Henry Yan figure book, and he gets the same look as Chen with charcoal pencils/compressed charcoal/vine charcoal on newsprint... So I'm pretty sure Chen must have answered the pencil question with a charcoal answer. Thing is, as seen below, I can't come close to the look Chen and Yan get with their charcoal, and I just bought some 2B charcoal pencils just to be sure. My guess is it's gotta be the newsprint, because it holds hardly any charcoal on the page. My only suspicion about that however is that typing paper doesn't really hold that well either, and yet still, I can't get nearly as subtle grays as they do (per stroke, not blending). It could simply be the fact that they're worlds above me in their handling of the charcoal, but I still wonder... cause it's a huge difference, and I'm finding it almost impossible to get those smooth, light gray strokes they construct their sketches with.

So this is me experimenting with a 2B charcoal pencil on typing paper. Again, from characterdesigns.com

http://fc27.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/d/2/People_03_by_static_pen.jpg

I got frustrated again, so I changed mediums a few times on this page to experiment some more. Clockwise from top: vine charcoal, charcoal pencil, 4B pencil. Time spent on all of these is about the same.

http://fc31.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/040/3/9/People_04_by_static_pen.jpg

Anyone have any ideas? Any experience with newsprint? To get an idea of what I'm looking at, here is a page of Chen's technique: click! (http://characterdesigns.com/index.php?sitepage=tutorials)

[NR43]

Actually I'm dying to get some of that newsprint in my hands.
I've not found it in art stores here yet... perhaps I should order some online, but I fear there's a good chance it will be damaged by the postal services (over here they toss everything around and they try to squeeze every package in yer mailbox, no matter what the size is O_o)

That is some IMPRESSIVE updates Jason
WOW! I see you are making good use of your time
Must draw too now, ciao! (no one at the office here yet eheh)

[danielh68]

Incredible sketch work and interesting insight about the types of pencils and paper used. Also, that site, Character Design is a real treasure. I've never heard of it before, but I definitely got it bookmarked now:)

[staticpen]

Johan - Thanks heaps, man. Yeah, I admire your ability to push out an incredible amount of work despite how crammed your days are with work and kids. Bravo. :)

Daniel - Many thanks, mate. Yeah, CD.com is a pretty nice site when you're looking for free poses of people. It's the only one I know of that's free.

-----

I finally got my hands on some newsprint. Office Depot was going out of business around here, so I got 100 18x24 sheets for 6.59. Nice.

So in answering my own question from last post, the difference was newsprint. For some reason copy paper just reacts strangely to charcoal, and you get dark blacks when you don't necessarily want them. But newsprint handles quite smoothly, and I think I'm in love with it already.

Here is some experimentation by imagination from last night. Experimenting with the feel of vine, compressed and charcoal pencil on newsprint.

http://fc50.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/042/1/1/Charcoal_23_by_static_pen.jpg

Also, two birds with one stone... 2.35:1 (ish) composition practice for storyboarding and some general people-in-environment practice. From AA, PS, a couple hours.

http://fc35.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/042/3/7/American_Apparel_5_by_static_pen.jpg

[danielh68]

Beautiful sketchwork again. Have you considered taking them into PS and overlaying some color?

[staticpen]

Daniel - Ah, thanks man. But no, I don't really bring my natural media sketches into PS because I don't have a scanner. Taking photos means the paper is less than white, so it's kind of cumbersome to paint over them on an overlay/multiply layer.

----

I started getting back to work in PS a little more this past week. Mostly just trying to get to grips with painting without a line drawing underneath. I have this drive to go after the things that I don't do well, which can be really frustrating, but it's kind of its own reward when you work something out in the end. So here's some of what I've been doing...

I did an american apparel copy again, but without a line drawing, and I tried to be quick about it. This one took about 30 minutes. I didn't even like the photograph, so I'm not too sure why I chose this picture to copy, haha.

http://fc65.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/046/b/1/American_Apparel_6_by_static_pen.jpg

It basically brought to my attention that yeah, I need more work with my brush handling, but also that I can't paint trees. Haha. We'll get to those in a minute. First, another quick sketch without lines.

http://fc00.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/046/3/8/blue_dude_by_static_pen.jpg

After that I noticed that I don't have a quick way of turning form (I hate airbrushes for... well, most anything but painting light) so I looked through my old images and saw a copy of a Rubens piece that was well blended... and I remembered that smudge + textured brush = rad. So here's a Casey Baugh copy that only took like 20-30 minutes:

http://fc34.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/046/5/b/After_Casey_Baugh_by_static_pen.jpg

That worked out pretty well, and it also gave me the idea of using the textured smudge the way I use tissues in charcoal drawings to add accents and merge values. So here's a head in profile from imagination. No line drawing used:

http://fc88.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/046/3/c/head_in_profile_by_static_pen.jpg

Valentine's Day was also my 50 straight days of drawing day, so...

First, I'm really gonna need better perspective skills if I'm going to work in art, so I've been reading this perspective book. Here's a simple sketch with a single vanishing point. It also let me practice shadows in perspective:

http://fc37.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/046/f/f/Perspective_Sketch_by_static_pen.jpg

Here's the 50 days painting:

http://fc97.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/046/c/8/50_Days_by_static_pen.jpg

So yeah, the above painting confirmed that my tree painting is really bad, but also my cloud painting... Cartoony is a style I kind of like, but I want to be able to paint in all styles. So I went looking at people who paint trees and clouds in styles I like, and I semi-copied a Bumskee sketch:

http://fc83.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/046/a/4/Trees_by_static_pen.jpg

That last one felt really nice, cause I never zoomed in... staying out and using big brushes, relaxing... it all feels very nice. It was a smooth ride.

Later!

[NR43]

You know you are so bloody right to keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone!

My former teach at the academy once said:
A style is the worst thing to have. It's merely an indication that we have blinkers on.

Keep going buddy!

[staticpen]

Johan - Yeah dude. There is no box, right? (I don't know if they have that expression in uh... you're in Holland, was it? I'm sorry, I forget. I've been there, though... I liked it a lot. Played some pickup games of futbol. :)

---

Forgot to post this last week... struggling, trying to figure out how Robogabo creates the look he has... it's so rad. If you haven't been to his sketchbook, check it out at CA.org.

http://fc83.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/049/d/1/After_Robogabo_by_static_pen.jpg

Did some charcoal sketching the other night. 2B charcoal pencil on 18x24 newsprint. 20 minute Henry Yan studies. Newsprint feels so good...

http://fc21.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/049/a/1/Charcoal_24_by_static_pen.jpg

Some more photoshop work from characterdesigns.com

http://fc30.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/049/2/c/People_05_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc62.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/049/b/4/People_06_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc83.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/049/0/2/People_07_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

More work from characterdesigns.com, 2B charcoal pencil on newsprint. These are relatively quick poses, and on this page I learned something about planning relative to your tool and time limit. Charcoal pencils are good for structure and line, and it doesn't smudge half as well as vine. So using value as a main method of drawing short poses is not really a good idea when you're using a pencil. Before you start your drawing, know what your goal is. Depiction through value, line, or structure. On longer poses you don't have to worry about choosing so much, because you have the time to combine all three aesthetics if you feel inclined to.

So yeah, I think next time I attack a page I'll do some thinking before I touch anything to the paper. Art is a language, and they always say to think before you speak... I think that applies here.

http://fc27.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/050/8/1/People_08_by_static_pen.jpg

[razz]

You rock, mate! Love the number of works I see here, but that would be nothing if not the quality. Some are better than others, some stand out from the others, overall - greatness!!
I like the fast Casey Baugh study. You've done a nice job in a really short amount of time. I was painting a face today and thought I was finished after about 1-2 hours of work on it. But then I flipped. So it came to 4 hours after all the fixes. Some of your faces have features moving around a little, be sure to watch that. Flipping an image is best for that, as you already know I think. Mirror for pieces done with traditional medium, but you know that also so I'll stop now :)
Kepp up with the good stuff. Godspeed.

[staticpen]

Razz - Great to see you, man! Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, it's definitely been a mix of ups and downs, strikes and gutters. I don't really draw in my comfort zone much because I don't feel like I'm moving forward at all if I draw purely for enjoyment. I suppose it helps though, that I somewhat enjoy making things difficult for myself, haha. I'm a competitive person.
But yeah, I do the whole flipping and mirror thing when I remember. I don't generally do it for quick sketches though. I figure if I notice something on the flip I'll do exactly what you talked about and spend double the time on the image fixing things, which is exactly opposite the point of a quick sketch.
Thanks again for coming by!

----

A perspective sketch:

http://fc95.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/053/4/3/Perspective_Sketch_02_by_static_pen.jpg

And I decided to cut some wood up and build myself a stand for my 18x24 pads. It was just too awkward to lean over them for long periods of time. Plus the perspective gets skewed at the top of the page, so heads end up drawn too small... hard to focus on the drawing when you're constantly trying to compensate for that. So here's a picture of the stand.

http://fc90.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/053/0/4/art_stand_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Make a 4 legged one Jason.
This one might fall over if you have to paint/draw on the top half of your canvas/paper
I actually got one as a present from my mother 2 years ago.
It's a small easel to put on the table and it's about 70cm high, 30cm wide.
I think you can buy it for a few bucks
It looks a lot like this one:
http://www.lakewoodconferences.com/catalog/44/985/page2/285010/table_easel.html

check out your local art store, they might have one for less than 10$!

[siiilon]

You're working hard man and it's easily seen on your improvements. For me, you are one of few people here who motivate me to work. I have desire to paint anytime when watching your thread. Looking forward to more from you >:)

[staticpen]

Johan - Ah, that square easel looks really nice! It's funny, though, right after I made the one you see there my mother walked in with a huge, art-school-grade easel. One of those kind you use standing up. So it was a good experience, building that stand, but I don't have to use it. Haha.

siiilon - Aw, thanks so much mate. I really appreciate it. Glad you feel that way.

---

I started doing a Dominance War 4 mini challenge. You have to make a general who looks like he could lead people into battle. I initially just went in and tried to do it the hard way, which for me is to make everything up on the spot, in color, with no sketch.

http://fc34.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/055/1/b/DWAR4_general_lighting_by_static_pen.jpg

I couldn't stand looking at it, so I went to the drawing board and worked on some ideas for a while.

http://fc90.deviantart.com/fs40/f/2009/055/4/9/DWAR4_generals_1_by_static_pen.jpg

After that I picked an ideas and refined it a bit. He looked kind of communist and intellectual, so I went with a sort of... almost scholarly vibe with his accessories.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/055/0/b/DWAR4_generals_2_by_static_pen.jpg
After this I took the sketch I liked most and made a bigger file and started blocking in color. So here's a 3 step of the composition decisions and the first bits of color.

http://fc21.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/055/f/b/DWAR4_general_1_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc45.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/055/5/a/DWAR4_general_2_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc14.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/055/0/2/DWAR4_general_3_by_static_pen.jpg

Been doing some more life drawing and charcoal stuff from characterdesigns.com, but I forgot to take pictures of the drawings. Next time!

[NR43]

my mother walked in with a huge, art-school-grade easel. One of those kind you use standing up.

Oh man, I am sooooooo jealous now :cry:
I seriously LOVE those big, heavy H easels from school. They are dirty and some have a tiny problem here or there, but they have a long time of being used for art behind them...
I was looking to buy one last year but they are +400€ new (and those aren't even that solid).
One day my eye will fall on a 2nd hand one and I will not hesitate then... I can tell you that!
It's either that or I build one myself!

You're not gonna like this crit, but your general looks more like a Cézanne to me ;)

A few suggestions:

lower the camera angle to make him look more like an authority.
give him a firm, proud, strict expression
make him look towards the viewer, dominantly
remember that it doesn't have to be a human, experiment!
Great to see you in the DW Jason (I'm too busy myself but I'm watching the 2D thread)

[staticpen]

Johan - Ha. I wish it was an H easel. It's actually just a larger 3-legged gig I've seen in some studios.
As far as the crits, thanks for taking the time. I did experiment with non-humans, as seen on the sketch page, but I ended up wanting to paint an old dude. Also, most of the things you said weren't really the vibe I was going for. I didn't want a sort of grumbling, stern General dictator type. If you go to the DWAR thread yourself, on the first page the logo for the challenge is set on top of a collection of portraits. A lot of them are of real generals, and a lot of those guys aren't looking at the viewer. That's more the effect I'm aiming at. Sort of a Rembrandt type deal, with the ear getting the central spot in the frame and light pouring in from the side.

---

From a photo, vine and compressed charcoal on newsprint. I'm not too happy with it, but I did learn something very important that I used on the next page...

http://fc63.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/057/b/4/People_09_by_static_pen.jpg

I wasted a lot of time on the above image trying to make everything really subtle, just as it was on the actual man's torso. What I did for this page was 1) simplify, and then 2) exaggerate. Simplify the sketch to get a base up, and then choose an area to overstate, and area to understate, etc. Pretty much that old quote, "Overstate or understate, but don't ****ing copy it."

http://fc94.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/057/c/b/People_10_by_static_pen.jpg

Here's another process image of the General. I'm much further along in the .psd. I just have to paint the logo and then I'll upload the final piece.

http://fc13.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/057/0/0/DWAR4_general_4_by_static_pen.jpg

[danielh68]

As always, wonderful figure sketches, Static. I really like that qoute, it's so simple and direct. I've tried to explain that way of thinking to someone in the past, but my explaination seemed long and abstruse, I think they thought I'd been smokin' dope or something. In any case, I will file that saying into my archives. Thanks!

[staticpen]

Daniel - Thanks a lot. Yeah, it's a good quote to have in mind when you're drawing. I heard it from Chris Sears over on CA.org, and I think he heard from his mentor Mike Butkus, the inhuman poster comp artist (who now also has a thread (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=150961) if you're interested).

-----

A couple more steps for the DW4 mini challenge.

http://fc23.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/061/6/3/DWAR4_general_5_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc16.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/061/8/f/DWAR4_general_6_by_static_pen.jpg

And the final submission:
Seems the uploader took all the red saturation out of his face... too bad.
http://fc88.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/061/9/e/Dominance_War_4_General_by_static_pen.jpg

I also started trying clothed figure drawing in charcoal. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It's not like life sketching with a pen in a little notebook.

http://fc87.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/061/d/0/People_11_by_static_pen.jpg

I was kind of upset with myself after that page, so I decided to try a longer pose. Also charcoal pencil on newsprint.

http://fc14.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/061/a/f/People_12_by_static_pen.jpg

Speaking of newsprint, I've come to the conclusion that I can only work on it with charcoal pencil, and there's no point in trying to erase or blend on it. It's just not a very forgiving surface. Which is precisely the point, I guess. It's practice paper. The point is practicing, not rendering.

Anyway, I kind of miss working with value shapes instead of all of these lines, so I might do a long pose on my charcoal paper pretty soon.


Thanks for stopping by. :)

[danielh68]

Hey Static, I like the last one with the girl smiling over her shoulder. The position and everything makes the viewer feel a little peeping-tom-ish :)

That's an excellent thread, I really enjoyed his pirate sketches. Awesome artist!

Have you ever tried bienfeng paper? It's really durable and handles many medias. This is the stuff I use if your interested:

http://www.dickblick.com/products/bienfang-graphics-360-marker-paper/

Great updates, man :)

[staticpen]

Daniel - Ah, that paper looks like a steal. The pad itself looks inspiring, too. I like the design... mm, and thanks for the kind words. The model in the photo actually had a toothy smile, but I measured a bunch of stuff wrong and didn't have enough room to move the jaw down any further. Hence the closed lips and resulting expression. ;)

-------

I think I'm getting a little better at making up my own interesting stylistic marks and omissions, when drawing people. All of this practice drawing from photos and life is really helping in ways copying someone else's drawing cannot.

A long pose in charcoal, from characterdesigns.com:

http://fc28.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/065/7/4/People_13_by_static_pen.jpg

Short poses in pencil. Kind of for storyboard practice, I guess. Getting shapes and shadows down quickly and accurately was my goal. Making obvious pose and lighting statements with as few strokes as possible.

http://fc83.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/065/2/b/People_14_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc09.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/065/4/a/People_15_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc93.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/065/6/6/People_16_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Damn man I just love how you handle charcoal!
How do you go about creating the forms... smudging etc
While I used to draw too lightly for a long time, I seem to go too dark too fast these days, especially with soft media like charcoal and conté...

[danielh68]

Fantastic stuff, Static. The charcoal piece has a really nice sensitivity about it. And, the other three orange studies are great as well. :thumbsup:

[staticpen]

Johan - Thanks a bunch. :) Yeah, charcoal can get really dark quite fast. A big part of it is your paper. Also what kind of charcoal you're using, though. You have to stroke really adroitly to get light marks with the compressed sticks. Most soft vine charcoal goes down in a nice grey value, though. Charcoal pencils are really finicky, because depending on what kind of paper you're using you're looking at super black or nice grey marks. Smudging and/or wiping are some ways to get nice midtones with charcoal, but some papers (like newsprint) aren't very good for that sort of thing. So there are a lot of variables when it comes to getting light tones with charcoal.
As far as what I do, it really depends on the tools. In the case of the long pose in question, I was using 70lb drawing paper with vine charcoal, compressed charcoal and charcoal pencils for little details. I basically go over the whole thing with just vine and a paper towel/my fingers for wiping first, then go over dark areas with compressed charcoal and smudge that down to work it into the paper. Depending on how clean your finger is, though, blending with them will work like a charm or actually erase what you've put down, so keep that in mind. Clean fingers act like erasers. After putting down darks with compressed charcoal I'll go back and model in the highlights with a kneaded eraser. "Modeling form" is a huge topic of discussion, so no matter where I stop it's kind of like stopping in the middle, so I'll just stop here before this gets too big. Hope it's of some help. :) Please feel free to say something if I missed one of your points of curiosity.

Daniel - Thanks a bunch, man. I appreciate it.

-----

A few more pages of quick sketching.

http://fc54.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/071/7/d/People_17_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc91.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/071/d/d/People_18_by_static_pen.jpg

Also, a page of life drawing I forgot to upload last month.

http://fc80.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/071/1/3/Life_Drawing_25_by_static_pen.jpg

Dominance War is starting today, I think, so work for that purpose should be coming in soon. I'm also pretty much this close to sending in an application to the Art Academy University of San Francisco, so when all of that works out I should be uploading stuff from those classes. I'm not moving quite yet, but I thought I'd start online to just get something going. I'm not sure if I'm gonna push for this summer or wait for the fall semester.

[Mu]

whatever you choose to do, you're sure gonna rock the art house.

Love your life drawings - they look rock solid and vivid.

Just a short reminder from me that the lecture of your almost daily updates has become a fixed activity in my day which I am regularly looking forward to.

[staticpen]

Mu - Thanks man, means a lot. I really appreciate you coming by and having a look see every now and again. :)

----

Some more objects form life in my spare time:

http://fc43.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/072/2/d/Life_Drawing_26_by_static_pen.jpg

And another page of people while I was getting Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie. I've got the VHS back in California, but I was just really in the mood to watch it again. It's so classic... in a Mortal Kombat kind of way. Hilariously cliche script with pretty sweet fights and cool music. Plus it's the whole nostalgia factor for me. "My beautiful face is ruined!" haha.
But yeah, I'm feeling good about the second half of this page. I started on the left with a mechanical pencil and wasn't feeling it, so I switched back to a 2B artist pencil for the others. One thing I'm feeling more confident in is stating things in my own fashion. I'm getting better at knowing when to use how many values at what sizes of drawings. Also, another thing that I did in charcoal drawings copying Henry Yan all the time but never thought of doing on my own was leaving the eyelids white. On the left I shaded in the whole eye socket, but there's nothing there to suggest the eyeball. On the little girl in the center I left a bit of paper showing for her eyelid. That tiny bit of white really allows the brain to create the enter eye structure in the imagination of the viewer.
Anyway, just feeling good about how my progress is coming along for quick sketching. I usually don't feel or see my own improvements, but I think I'm seeing something these days. Yey me, haha.

http://fc28.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/072/5/c/People_19_by_static_pen.jpg

Dominance War was delayed to the 15th though, so nothing to do in that regard for a few more days.

[NR43]

Damn I should be drawing a lot more objects!
I'm so focussed on humans lately (I don't even like humans half the time to be honest) I tend to forget there are a lot more interesting things to see in this life...
Thnaks for reminding me ;)

My teacher at the academy has asked me to select some 30-40 drawings from this school year. Based on these drawings, I will be judged either good enough to pass on to the 4th year next september, or not. The progress over 7 months time is a lot better visible, than over the last couple of weeks...
I guess this proves that becoming skilled at drawing is a matter of years, rather than weeks or months ;)

I think you are definitely growing stronger.
It is well visible in your work.
Keep rocking! (to quote a fellow fan)

Good luck on the DW! (That old Duke came out beautifully btw)

[razz]

Woah, the longer poses are so awesome looking. Great job on those. Last quickies are neat also. But it does look like with more time you can do better. And that's pretty natural, I think. Less lines, they must be precise, still show the subject. It's as if you were working on a longer piece and making it looks simple, that's extremely hard, knowing what to keep and what to leave out. Anyway, I think you're doing amazing. Do keep it up, mate!

[staticpen]

Johan - Yeah, objects are really important. People (including me) can get really focused on the figure because it's so complex and rewarding, but very few jobs are just painting people on a black page. Seems everyone should also be able to paint props and environments and animals and creatures as well if they want to get into concept work.
Thanks for coming by, man. :)

Razz - Thanks for stopping by. Yeah, longer poses are a lot easier for me. It's why I do so many shorter sketches. Really pushing myself to get better at those. Thanks for the encouragement. :)

---

Some life drawing from the bookstore. Kids are impossible! They move constantly.

http://fc21.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/073/7/4/Life_Drawing_27_by_static_pen.jpg

Also a quick 30 minute sketch in PS from my head. Gonna try to make myself do a little more concept work. I'm getting a pretty decent library of poses from my life drawing, so it's probably time to start trying to work those figures into enviros.
I started this one in B&W intending to go over it with color, but I tried all of those color/overlay/multiply layers again and couldn't find a way to make it look right, so I gave up again. I think I'm gonna end up one of those people who paints with color from the get go. Hmm...

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/073/1/5/lunch_sketch_9_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Hahahaha. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing in photoshop. Quick sketches are so far out of reach for me, it seems. I can't say back to the drawing board, cause I've never left, hahaha. But here's a 30 minute thing from the bookstore.

http://fc15.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/074/4/4/lunch_sketch_10_by_static_pen.jpg

[danielh68]

Hey Static, you just have to keep at it. It's just another medium that requires time and mileage to get good at. Your traditional skills are really spot on and I have witnessed your growth in that area and it's pretty remarkable. As you start to gain more familiarity and confidence with Photoshop, you'll encounter periods of rabid growth. Because of what you've already accomplished with your traditional studies, you'll begin to see that experience manifest in your digital work. So, just keep cranking away :thumbsup:

[NR43]

The great thing about the coloring from grayscale method is you learn a lot about hue and saturation. Sometimes, the slightest difference in hue or saturation makes a really big difference in the overall illustration. Don't give up on it buddy, it's like Daniël says... you just need some mileage at it. Knowing your adapting capabilities, you'll start liking it soon!

[staticpen]

Daniel - Many thanks for the kind words, man. I really appreciate it.

Johan - Thanks to you, as well. It's very encouraging of you to come by and drop a line.

---

So yeah, I took what you guys and a couple friends said over the last day and kind of formulated a plan. Photoshop has always been hit or miss with me, so I decided to try the same approach as I had with charcoal and pencils. Just paint a lot from reference. Life, photos, other artists, what have you. I know I just said I was going to try and do more concept stuff, but I don't have the skills in PS to pull off what's in my head yet. I know, because I just tried, haha. I made some shapes in Alchemy and had a really great idea for an enviro, pulled it up in photoshop and absolutely made a mess of things. So I'll be doing studies to develop a skill set first. Hope you all don't mind seeing a bunch more studies for a while!

20 minute painting of my brother when we were in Australia.

http://fc19.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/075/e/9/lunch_sketch_11_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Studies are cool man... ok? You step away from that ridge now, c'mon
:D

[staticpen]

Johan - Ha. Yeah, I only shot the photo to make it look super crazy. What you can't see is that about 15 feet down there's a patch of grass on the side of the mountain. It's not a straight drop off... however, that doesn't really prove anything, cause he did actually stand on a very small ledge for another photo, with just a few inches of rock between his feet and a 100 drop to the ocean. @__@ Made a good photo, though!

-----

A couple more from life.

This one is with a hard brush at like 80% opacity. I was also trying to see everything in black and white, which proved pretty difficult.

http://fc88.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/075/f/a/lunch_sketch_12_by_static_pen.jpg

This one I started in color and tried some different brushes. Also used the hard round a lot, but this time with pressure sensitivity.

http://fc43.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/075/5/3/lunch_sketch_13_by_static_pen.jpg

Those are both somewhere between 10-20 minutes. So what I think I've learned here is that I'd probably be better off learning how to paint well before worrying about painting quickly.

Long road ahead, but I have PF Flyers, so I'm good to take it on!

Huzzah!

[staticpen]

Feeling a little better with this one! It's of a pretty sweet Chinese garden in Australia.

http://fc14.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/076/c/d/lunch_sketch_14_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

I entered DWAR III but never actually made the final image. Not gonna happen this year!

I'm going for a (what I hope to be) unique idea here... and I'm making a machine cyborg... with the living parts coming from a captured demon! I'm thinking the machines ambushed and captured one of the demon princes and applied their technology to harvest certain parts of the demon. It's against the rules to let him use magic, so I won't have this guy utilizing demonic powers. However, I figure the demonic flesh empowers this dude to move faster and gain slight resistances to flame, or maybe they attached organic wings for more agile flight, who knows. Something like that.

Anyway, I did these first concept silhouettes a while back in photoshop. My first time trying silhouettes, so I've yet to get an idea how to do those effectively in that software.

http://fc57.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/076/6/8/DWAR4_Main_01_by_static_pen.jpg

Then I went into Alchemy, which is amazing (and free!) software for sparking creativity. It also happens to be an amazing silhouette tool. So here are 6 more concept ideas. I've uploaded a large file because some of them have intricate patterns.
I'm liking (left to right and down) 1, 2, and 4 right now. We'll see what happens when I try to flesh them out.

http://fc76.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/076/4/0/DWAR4_Main_02_by_static_pen.jpg

[SmallPoly]

That's a pretty neat program. Just tried it. Reminds me of the silouhettes of the recent Transformers robots.

[staticpen]

velenosangue - yeah, I totally know what you mean. Good stuff.

---

I spotted this idea after posting the last page. Not looking at #6 as a flying blob, but as a torso/shoulder area. So I made some legs and arms and attached them in PS for this idea.

http://fc56.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/076/0/6/DWAR4_Main_03_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Nice job on the reflections in the water on that garden sketch.


Alchemy... can't wait to try it now *grmbl*

[SmallPoly]

Alchemy... can't wait to try it now *grmbl*

The program can be found here -- http://al.chemy.org/


Also, Staticpen:
I really admire your work, especially in traditional media, and it definately helps motivate me to keep practicing. I have no doubt that you'll master digital painting if you keep at it.

With silhouettes in Photoshop, I usually set up something like a 2000x4000 canvas with a white background layer, a clear layer above that for storing finished silhouettes (sized down after i'm done), and another one above that for actually making them. I also tend to draw a line in the middle to designate the left as the "storage" area and the right as the working area. I usually turn on an onscreen countdown timer (i use xnote stopwatch). I spend the first several seconds with my eyes closed visualizing a character, which makes the actual drawing part a lot easier and straightforward. Then when the timer is getting close to zero, I resize the silouhette, scale it down and place in the storage section, and create a new layer for the next silouhette. I do a new layer so I dont' have to select the silouhette before resizing.

I thought it was pretty cool thought that alchemy has an option that does the timer part for you ( autorecord/auto clear canvas).

Also, have you tried corel painter at all? Though I usually practice with basic round brushes, it's a lot better at emulating traditional media than photoshop

[danielh68]

Static, awesome job on the Chinese Garden :thumbsup: You have a dominate color choice in the greens and the orange umbrellas are a perfect accent.

You're Alchemy work is kick a$$! After seeing your stuff, I won't to go back and create some more creatures. In any case, have fun developing them.

[staticpen]

Johan - Thanks man! Yeah... love to see what you come up with out of Alchemy. :)

velenosangue - Thanks for the advice man. I saw your silhouettes in your sketchbook. Nice stuff! I'll give it whirl sometime. Also, I've never been able to use Painter. I've wanted to for ages, but have yet to get my hands on it. One of these days!

Daniel - Yeah, the color worked out pretty nicely in that garden. Credit goes to the architects, though! I just painted what I saw! ;D But yeah, Alchemy is super hip right now. haha. I'm loving it. Thanks very much. Cheers.

---

A little fleshing out of idea 1, and a sketchbook page. I'm at the library, so no access to image uploading websites. Thus, the attachments:

[staticpen]

Working up another concept from a different silhouette.

http://fc12.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/079/0/9/DW_IV_concept_02_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Still working on that accuracy.

http://fc93.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/081/f/7/People_21_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

More enviro work. Bumskee's recent enviro thumbs are just blowing my mind...

http://fc65.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/081/9/3/lunch_sketch_15_by_static_pen.jpg

[Rabid1]

Hey Static, great job on the recent enviros, that Garden piece is great! Those silhouettes and black/white sketches are cool too, i've been reading about that program and your pieces make me want to go play with it lol. The life drawings continue to shine, its cool that you make the time to really focus on the different apects of this art form. Your dedication is inspiring.

[staticpen]

Rabid - Thank you kindly. It's been a rough road, but I suppose those are the journeys that are really rewarding in the end. One step at a time...

---

Did some Mullins studying with some friends tonight. I chose a still life.

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/9e50697ee3d8e616220f3509f5d912306g.jpg

[staticpen]

A friend of mine and I went to the Mullins library again...

http://fc66.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/083/9/a/Mullins_Copy_03_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Enviro work from last night! I really gotta figure out how to paint trees. Maybe I'll do a whole bunch of tree studies today. :D

Fun stuff though.

http://fc64.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/085/f/1/lunch_sketch_16_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Copied some Bumskee stuff to try and get a better understanding of how to paint trees.

http://fc27.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/085/7/0/Tree_Studies_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

While Bumskee is an amazing artist and you're doing a great job studying his work, I'd still suggest to also study some trees from life Jason... nothing beats the real thing if it comes to reference ;)
Study them also with different media... pencil, charcoal to name a few.
You'll see that it takes a little bit of adapting to depict them convincingly with each change in used medium, but in the end your understanding of tree forms will only grow.

[staticpen]

Johan - I don't like to get my inspiration from just one source. Yes, studying from life is very important, but there is a lot to gain from studying artists who carved out paths through the woods before us. That's why schools have students copy master works. To learn which strokes they used where. You say, "to also study some trees from life" as if I never paint trees from life, when I've got a handful of studies in here from life, with trees in them. So thanks for the encouragement, but I know all about studying with different mediums from all manner of sources.

---

Some enviro thumbs. I spent a lot of time studying brushes before I started these. I finally went into PS not to paint, but just to study. Figure out which brush worked for which object. It really helped my workflow. I completed these in as much or less time than my older enviros, and I think they look a lot better on top of that.

Progress!

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/087/d/4/Enviro_Thumbs_02_by_static_pen.jpg

[danielh68]

Wow! Those are awesome thumbs. Great color and compositions.

[NR43]

Hi Jason,

You obviously know what to look for, looking at your work, and where to find it.
You most definitely are on "a road to Mastery"

I have a long long way to go before I will get as good as you so I certainly didn't want to sound like you need my guidance.
Perhaps I was more trying to convince myself with my last comment in your sb thread, rather than you. As I don't draw enough from life as I should.

So I apologize if I offended you in any way, Jason.

Keep rocking!
Johan

[staticpen]

Daniel - Kindest thanks sirrr. I can't take too much credit for the compositions, though, as the thumbs I do for practice are all ref'd. Cheers!

Johan - Thanks for clearing that up, mate. No hard feelings, hey? Now let's draw! :D

---

Still trying to get that life drawing time in when I can.

http://fc23.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/089/b/7/Life_Drawing_28_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Had a free half hour away from any computers, so I did some charcoal to make sure I don't forget how to use the stuff. ;O

2b charcoal pencil on 18x24 newsprint

after joshua langstaff

http://fc31.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/090/c/6/Charcoal_25_by_static_pen.jpg

(life drawings on the last post before this page)

[danielh68]

Awesome...I dig the attention to the planes of the face.

[staticpen]

Daniel - Thanks mate. Cheers.

----

I've concluded that I really need work on my hands and clouds. I did these during Del Portro's brave victory over Rafa this afternoon... it was hard to swallow, especially after watching Roddick give the match away to Federer last night. Eeeh, what a rough couple days for my tennis hopes.

http://fc26.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/092/0/b/Hands_2_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Well, it's not a shame to lose from Federer... after all he has been one of the best for quite some time, and he's not going to drop out of the top 10 any time soon ;)

Nice hand studies... damn you keep reminding me of stuff I have to do :argh:

[staticpen]

Johan - Yeah, no doubt Federer is still a great player. But my point was Roddick absolutely had momentum, and he just WOULD NOT stop approaching down the line against the Fed forehand. He got killed over and over and over on that play, and it was eventually the end of him. Hopefully he'll learn from it.
And maybe Federer will learn from the whooping he took from Djokovic today. @__@ Never seen the dude smash a raquet before!

---

Some more hands while I waited for my brother to finish with my laptop.

http://fc18.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/093/7/0/Hands_3_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

There's this one particular scene in Lord of the Flies that is truly great... the imagery was so well written that I instantly had an entire shot list in my head. This was just me doodling an idea and one of the frames of that scene while I was on the phone. Fun to do something out of my imagination again. I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to not have to worry about copying something just right!

http://fc19.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/095/4/f/Lord_of_the_Flies_by_static_pen.jpg

[danielh68]

Great book and thumbnail. It seems you got much of the composition worked out. The foreground is clearly distinguished from the back and middle with the focal point having the most contrast. It would be interesting to see how this develops if you decide to run with it. :thumbsup:

By the way, awesome hand studies.

[DreamMaster]

Wow! I usually don't post much at cgtalk except at DSG. I'm a lurker, but I had to drop a comment here. Your work development is so awesome. I really enjoy viewing yours and you obviously show a lot of signs in improving!

You're definitely on the road to mastery! One thing for sure, you're inspiring me to start mine! ;) Maybe I will!

Keep it up!

[staticpen]

Daniel - Thanks mate. I did decide to keep going with that scene. I've drawn out 9 frames so far. Just a few more to go. I really enjoy storyboarding every time I do it... what a great job that'd be. :)

DreamMaster - Kindest thanks! I really appreciate it. I say go for it. :D

---

April 5 was 100 days of straight drawing. Last celebration image I did was for 50, so I wonder if any of you had forgotten about it. >: D
Since it's a big milestone, I decided to do a big picture! Some good things here, some bad, some ugly. XD Learned a lot from it, and had fun.

http://fc26.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/098/d/3/100_Days_of_Drawing_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Velanosangue's (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=5797569#post5797569) thread has some amazing alchemy work in it. You should all go have a look. :)

After looking at his most recent posts, I downloaded the newest version of the software and did a quick landscape. So much more relaxing than photoshop :O!

http://fc31.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/098/8/e/River_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Heh nice stuff!

If you really want to loose control in Alchemy 7, just tap on the color variation thingie... :arteest:

[siiilon]

Great works!

I love your figure drawings and your enviros. Though the last color enviro seems to have inconsistent lightning - where all those red lighting in foreground came from? But really great mood and composition it has. I am watching your thread with passion, keep up mate >:)

[staticpen]

Johan - Ooh, I'll try that. Cheers sir.

Siiilon - Thanks man. The last enviro? Yeah, it was a bit of an experiment. The red is from the clay underneath the water. I did the painting from reference, so I could post that, but I'd have to go looking through hundreds of random galleries on pbase.com, so it'd take a lot of effort... I'll just take it as criticism that I need to paint water/light better, because if it looked like the photo, you wouldn't have brought it up! :p Cheers, and thanks for the crit mate.

---

Boarded the Lord of the Flies scene. Everything is just improvised from my head, so naturally I messed up some anatomy and would have switched a couple shots in hindsight, either going in tighter or changing an eye level, etc. But on the whole it was fun. I'll probably go back to the poses that kicked my butt and study them from references to make sure I can do them right if I ever need to again (such as walking - duh. I don't know how to draw people walking)

http://fc19.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/099/5/a/Lord_of_the_Flies_Storyboard_by_static_pen.jpg

[danielh68]

Sweet storyboarding, Static. Each one can stand alone as a strong composition too.

[NR43]

I've thought it before and I'm thinking it now again... you're really good at storyboarding.
At least I am always instantly sucked into the story.

I'm wondering, perhaps you've come across interesting articles/tutorials on storyboarding and you happened to bookmark those url's. Could you post one or perhaps a few links in that case?
Would be awesome :)

Is the word "cut" between each frame suggesting the transition method between frames?
What about timing? I can imagine some frames are shown longer than others. How do you indicate that? Or is this meant to be determined in an other stadium than the storyboarding phase?

Sorry for all the noob questions but... well, I know nothing about it but it looks very interesting to me :)

[staticpen]

Daniel - Thank you kindly, friend.

Johan - Many thanks, man. I appreciate the encouragement. But no, I can't say I've ever come across any tutorials or articles on storyboarding. I have a couple books back in California, but most everything I do I came up with on my own from watching movies or what have you. I can however point you in the direction of some working storyboard artists to give you an idea of what they look like in the business. Dan Milligan (http://www.danmilligan.com/filmandgame/) has some Beowulf boards near the bottom there, in sepia. John Watkiss has done some boards, but I couldn't find them on his site. Josh Sheppard (http://www.thestoryboardartist.com/Site/Home.html) is probably the best one to go to, as he has piles of boards for anyone to look at. Good luck! It's a lot of fun.

-----

As I said, I messed up on several of the storyboard frames. I've been drawing walking poses tonight, and I just did a study of an "I'm gonna faint" face, as I wasn't happy with the one from my imagination.

http://fc43.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/100/d/2/People_22_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Thanks for those links Jason! Gonna check those out now!
Edit: Holy smokes these guys are good!!
That Beowulf board for example :drool:

[staticpen]

Johan - Yeah, it's fun looking through those. Cheers. :)

---

I finished my Blizzard Short Story Contest submission. It's here (http://www.mediafire.com/?ttieydiozjm) if any of you care to read it.

Now that that's out of the way I can start focusing on the Dominance War. My character is a cyborg, so he's not allowed to use magic. I figured the last concept didn't really look like it had any weapons of good use, so I tried another concept.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/104/9/d/DWAR4_Main_06_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Tried another approach, adding some more elements. No real details yet. Just trying to get the structure looking good.

http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/104/3/5/DWAR4_Main_07_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

A little muybridge to help me with my walking poses.

http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/104/1/5/People_23_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

I wanted to try another route, showing more demonic fleshy areas to better illustrate the "Cyborg" type of this character. Right now, I think the arms fused onto the shoulders have been infested by demon bug things, which everyone knows are dangerous. Also, the one good arm he has left is mutated with demon tissue, so it's super stretchy, Dhalsim status. And finally, I think he can charge up and shoot a beam out of his eye... maybe.

http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/105/0/c/DWAR4_Main_08_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Muybridge photo studies! Work those pencil muscles!

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/106/f/5/People_24_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

I never really do anything for fun or out of my head anymore, so I thought it might be good for me to do some character sketches every once in a while... Man, I'm way out of practice, haha. Nothing elaborate here. Just trying to get back into figure invention and stuff. Backgrounds, oof... Couldn't do it. Suppose it's not necessary for something like this, though.
I'm ok with the figure, but the face looks kind of dead. I was only working at like 500px width, so it was hard to get any detail in there.

It's a start!

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/106/9/0/Character_Sketch_01_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Some more ideas.

http://fc00.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/106/6/f/DWAR4_Main_09_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Man, it is amazing how good this feels... You know what it is? Drawing for pleasure! I said two posts ago that I was going to do some character sketches for the fun of it, but the truth is I was trying a bunch of different, concept art-y techniques that made it kind of frustrating to paint.
I noticed tonight as I browsed creativeuncut.com that pretty much all western artists paint and all eastern artists illustrate. What do I mean? Canadian, American, German, English, etc artists paint concept art like you would an oil or acrylic. All of the eastern concept art on that site, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc use lines, and often add color in a flatter, narrower value range, like a watercolor. I also noticed that they are less concerned with perfection, and instead focus on energy, as almost every image had a stray line or swath of color running around for no reason but to look good. Very different from the western trend of matte painting for games, where photos are used in under/overlays to create the utmost impression of realism.
I have an incredible respect for the western artists that paint the way they do. I'll say that here without hesitance. I wouldn't be spending this much time studying them, trying to learn their techniques and styles if I didn't wish I could paint like that myself.
I've just been STUDYING painters and photos and things from life for so many months on end now that I've effectively stopped drawing for fun. I looked through my sketchbook the other night and noticed that I have NO drawings from imagination in it. My older sketchbooks from my teenage years were nonstop creation and imagination, and I feel like I'm missing something by separating myself from that part of drawing these days.
So after being reminded that not everything has to look perfect, or even be painterly at all... I drew this guy. Just for fun. It was so much fun to be messy again... Maybe I can get some of that mojo back soon... :O!!!


http://fc09.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/107/6/9/Character_Sketch_02_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Too right!

Fun is why we all started digging deeper for better drawing skills in the first place.

The thing with studies from photographs and other master pieces is that it can even get annoying when copyright laws are involved. We publish our studies to show the progress that we made, to ask for critique or even just for ourselves for later reference, even if it is just to see how we evolve over time.

I recently found out that some of the reference for paintings I had published in my portfolio were copyrighted. Since my goal with those studies was to copy as accurately as possible, the resemblance was there. In such cases, copyright laws protect the owners of the copyrights and even though I have written permission of the photographers who took the pictures, I could only publish my "derivative image" if I bought a licence. (just fyi, for displaying it in my portfolio it was one 50€ fee, for being allowed to sell prints, it was 450€ per year). That being said, there are organisations like Art Renewal Centre (http://www.artrenewal.org/), they are non-profit organisations and if you ask nicely, you can do with your studies whatever you like, so it's a matter of selective source usage.

All this just to say that it is probably best not to have any studies from photographs in your portfolio, unless you took them yourself and you haven't sold the copyrights.
These (and the reasons you mentioned in your last post) are the very reasons that clicked something in my head, making me think more about creating my own portfolio, rather than a portfolio full of studies (which I have today).
It will take a while, but yes... it's the path to go.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts like that!
They keep a guy like me on the straight path LOL.

Have fun creating!

[staticpen]

Johan - Yes! Thanks so much for the insight about portfolios and reference copyrights. I always heard about that stuff but never had anyone explain it to me before. I'm really gonna have to do a lot more from life and imagination, for sure... Thanks again! And yes, don't forget the fun! It's what will keep us around.

----

Messing around with a mechanical pencil. I was drawing on copy paper this time, which is much smoother than the sketchbook I have. I prefer how the lead/graphite slides around on the smoother surface, so I think the next sketchbook I buy will have less tooth. I actually have a bunch of moleskine back in California... maybe I can find them when I go back next month.

http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/108/0/6/Scrap_05_by_static_pen.jpg

[jpedro]

sweet progression in here Jason. can see your having fun with it, keep it up :thumbsup: !

best,
Jan

[staticpen]

Jan - Thanks for the support!

---

I tried doing some pencils and then coloring in photoshop again, but without the pure whites resulting from a clean scan, everything just ends up too muddy. It was fun, though.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/110/f/6/Character_Sketch_03_by_static_pen.jpg

Also tried a watercolor of the DWIV concept, including a few design switches. Trying a new "face" and a lack of extra arms. The character requires my team colors, so I really just improvised them on. I used rose madder, payne's gray and permanent green.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/110/a/a/DWAR4_Main_10_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

I like these bot-like characters you create. They look too boney to be made of pure metal, but they look too stiff to be human/flesh as well... the insects are a nice touch.

[staticpen]

Johan - Thank man. I'm glad you like them. That's exactly what I'm going for, too, so I'm really happy you said that on your own. About the bones/metal. Still working on stuff...

---

To me the previous concept was too slouched, too much like a lower class enemy.

I went back with the arms and tail and yet again different shoulder guards here, and changed up the feeling of weight with the character. Also tried adding muscle shapes to the limbs, and by accident forgot to draw the left arm detached. haha.
I feel this looks more threatening than the previous draft, anyway. It actually looks a lot like the initial draft... I should get back to that and work from from it.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/111/a/0/DWAR4_Main_11_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Cool composition.

It occured to me that at that size, even the bugs could be life threatening to them little soldiers :D

[staticpen]

Johan - Yeah! Thanks for the kind words. And definitely, those bugs are pretty big compared to people. Certainly one of his weapons.

------

I forgot to upload this envrio study earlier this month.

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/112/2/3/lunch_sketch_17_by_static_pen.jpg

I also did some hand concepts for the DWIV cyborg. I'm pretty comfortable with the overall shape of the thing, so it's time to start working on the details. I did some more robot-ish looking stuff here, and some more hand-ish stuff... I think I'm settling on something like the collection at the bottom of the page, with the patches, but I might add the raised knuckle structures from the top left area. I've just never been a fan really robot-looking hands or limbs.

http://fc00.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/112/1/0/DWAR4_Main_12_by_static_pen.jpg

I also did a 5 minute demo for a friend. It served a dual purpose of giving me figure practice from imagination. :D

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/112/e/6/Scrap_06_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Working an angle into my memory. I did a couple from reference to keep refreshing, but most of them are from imagination/memory.

http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/114/1/7/Scrap_07_by_static_pen.jpg
http://www.deviantart.com/download/120356062/Scrap_08_by_static_pen.jpg

This pose has always kicked my butt. I only started getting comfortable doing it from my head toward the bottom of the second page.

[staticpen]

I've always wondered how to get that special "glow" look that's in most high-quality cel work. I found an excellent tutorial on deviantart the other night and thought I would once again try to get two birds with one stone... Drawing that problem pose from imagination and then coloring it according to the tutorial. It's a little rough around the edges, but I think I understand all of the steps now.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/115/d/a/Scrap_10_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Some more details and accessories, plus a look at the rear.

---

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/115/b/2/DWAR4_Main_13_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Nice progress on the giant creature-bot.
If you still have it, could you post the link to that cell-shading tut?
Thanks

[staticpen]

Johan - Thanks man. The link is here (http://udoncrew.deviantart.com/gallery/#Tutorials). A couple of them are on the cel topic.

----

Feet are tough! + life drawing.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/118/b/9/Life_Drawing_29_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/118/1/d/Life_Drawing_30_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

A sketch after David Levy. Continuing to work those painter (as opposed to draftsman) muscles!

http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/119/2/a/after_levy_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

3-view sheet is finished! Woo!

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/119/7/6/DWIV_Modeling_Sheet_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Messing around with a different way to select colors based on gray scale hues you've already put down. Kind of interesting.

http://fc00.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/120/d/0/color_study_by_static_pen.jpg

A few composition ideas for the final submission. I like the image on the top right for its dynamism, but I'm wondering if it's out of character or a little too tried. I get the feeling this character is a bit like a crazy person, walking around slowly and not doing very many acrobatic maneuvers, though when it does attack it kind of freaks out and is very fast. Not in its movement, but specifically its attacks. I figure it's built to just take punishment, and it doesn't care (hence the detached arm). That's why I feel the jumping shot could be out of character.
It's why I went a different direction for the third composition here, where it's standing over a dead demon, looking at its heart, feeling no need to rush off anywhere and kill something else.

Any thoughts are appreciated, as always!

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/121/d/f/DWIV_comps_by_static_pen.jpg

[SmallPoly]

Hi Staticpen,

The first two work well for me. The third one just seems too neutral, and to me it would be difficult to tell if robot killed the monster, or just discovered him.

I think that might work better if it was a low shot from around 1ft off the ground with the body thrust up close to the camera, and the robot towering over him, speckled with blood. Maybe even dissecting the corpse or something else with him actively treating the monster as something fairly insignificant.

[ZacD]

I think the be course of action would be to make the corpse fresh looking and a way to tell the robot did the finishing blow (have it holding a dripping organ or something)

[staticpen]

Matt - You make a pretty good point about the third composition. I would definitely be adding blood and stuff to indicate a battle in the final piece. And yeah, I'm going to be working on some low angle comps tonight. More soon!

Zac - Maybe it got lost in the values or the thumb is too small scale, but the demon's heart is skewered on the end of the character's tail. That's what he's looking at. Thanks for the thoughts!

----

The first in a series of ballpoint pen drawings I'm going to do. I'll draw different places and people from the inside of vehicles as I drive across the country.

On The Road #1
Montgomery, AL
May 2009

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/122/c/9/On_The_Road_1_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Experimenting with different ways to put color on grayscale. I used overlay and multiply layers instead of the color layer type. It works a little better for me. I had a little trouble getting temp/color shifts in there this time, but I know I'll get it in future attempts.
I also painted it without lines and managed to get some nice transparencies and textures in there, which is always a small battle won.

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/122/d/2/head_in_profile_2_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Another composition idea for DWIV! Kind of backwards, though, as the demon is beating my character, haha. Plus, you can't see hardly any of the design. It was fun though, and I might reverse the positions and try something similar tomorrow. Cyborg in the top position means he's winning + you see the whole design.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/122/2/b/DWIV_city_comp_by_static_pen.jpg

EDIT: new posts at the end of the previous page as well.

[staticpen]

Some more life drawing.

http://fc00.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/123/7/2/Life_Drawing_31_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

I think I might go with this comp for the final piece. A lower angle, more action and stronger diagonals. I'll figure out what to do with the background. I'm also thinking about having the attached arm on the left side of the frame grabbing the demon's leg or something. They're good for movement and composition as they are, but the beams on my character's back are the same shape and in the same spot, so I can afford to move the arms without losing too much visual momentum there.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/123/5/4/DWIV_tackle_comp_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

All I'm doing now is working on the cel shading techniques in preparation for the final image. I still haven't quite got down a good workflow for the glow and layer styles and stuff.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/124/d/d/cel_cut_head_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Some more life drawing. Ballpoint pen and charcoal.

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/125/9/7/Life_Drawing_32_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/125/6/0/Life_Drawing_33_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Color thumbs for the final piece. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/126/5/a/DWIV_color_thumbs_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Hey Jason... wow!

You're keeping busy I see :)
I like that life drawing of your room-mate (?) reading on the bed.

From the 4 thumbs in your last post, I like the 2nd (top-right) the best. The background color isn't too distracting in that one, while I feel in the others it is. Well the overall color balance is optimal in that one, for me anyway.

[jpedro]

great ballpoint sketches and the charcoal work is very sweet as well. keep it up Jason, you're taking off ;)

[staticpen]

Johan - Yessir! Work work work. I've gotta get better and better in every way! hahaha. Gotta stay motivated and draw and paint all the time if I want to be a working artist. Thanks very much for your throughts on the color thumbs. I took them around and the two favorite choices were the top images. I initially liked the top left, and I still enjoy it, but in the end the color scheme in the top right better sets the mood I want to convey. I appreciate the thoughts!

Pedro - Kindest thanks. I hope so!

---

Another ball point drawing while my brother uses the laptop.

http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/127/f/d/Life_Drawing_34_by_static_pen.jpg

And some fun doing something from my head. This might be fun to paint once DWIV blows over.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/127/5/0/Tree_Villiage__by_static_pen.jpg

Speaking of DWIV, I've started my final image, so... yessir, it's coming along sooner or later.

[staticpen]

I've been working on a few things. I've got an oil painting I need to finish up quickly, the DWIV final that's due pretty soon, and another conceptual project I'm working on with a friend. I'm not posting images of the oil or concept project until they're finished, and the DWIV final is going to stay on my hard drive until it's finished... so all I have left to post here are sketches and any speed paintings I can sneak in from time to time. But be sure, once I wrap up these projects I'll have process images and all kinds of stuff to post at once, so things will only be this slow for a little while longer. :)

Drawn during the basketball game tonight. I can't forget my perspective practice!

http://fc00.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/128/5/4/Scrap_11_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

take your time buddy!
Looking forward to see the end results of these projects

[staticpen]

Johan - Thanks man! In fact, I finished up one of those projects last night... One down, two to go!

---

Woo! That was a very rewarding experience. I finished my oil painting last night. It's a mother's day present of my grandmother's house (where we are right now). I've got steps to post, so I'll show and tell at the same time.

This is the charcoal drawing I started off with. I sprayed fixative on it but it still smudged. Does anyone know what process people typically go about when drawing with charcoal before painting?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/staticpen/GrannysHouse1.jpg

After that I went into an acrylic underpainting in complementary colors. I tried it on a still life once and really liked how it looked, so I decided to give it another go.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/staticpen/GrannysHouse2.jpg

After those prep stages earlier in the week I started putting down the oil. I'm pretty excited because I completed the entire oil portion of the piece in one day in an alla prima fashion. I didn't use any medium accept for a little bit of turp here and there, but 90% of this is just straight from the tube.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/staticpen/GrannysHouse3.jpg

Blocking in trees... I was pretty scared of them while getting ready for this whole thing, but they turned out to be a lot easier than I anticipated. Thanks, Bob Ross! XD
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/staticpen/GrannysHouse4.jpg

From there is was mostly detailing, which brings us to the final image. It was a lot of fun!

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/130/0/7/Southern_House_by_static_pen.jpg

[jpedro]

grats on that static! it came out really good, specially for a first try, love the trees!

[staticpen]

Pedro - Thanks very much!

---

Concept sheet for DWIV. I forgot you had to put everything down on one sheet. I did most of these concepts on a white background, and the two last ones on a gray background, so I had to just paint bucket the white backgrounds really sloppily to keep this page form having four white squares on it. Eh, it's alright. I really just want to finish this year!

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/130/4/5/DWIV_Concept_Sheet_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Done! Phew! I'm so happy to be finished with this project, hahaha. Thanks for all the support and suggestions, guys.

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/132/3/8/DWIV_Final_Submission_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

NOTE: DWIV Final Submission is on the last post of the previous page~

Here is some life/study work I did today while I wasn't able to work on the DWIV final.

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/132/b/7/Scrap_12_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/132/4/2/Scrap_13_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Hey great to see these life drawings with pen.
I tried it to last night. Unfortunately I got to just one sketch, but I think I might continue with it tonight!

Congratz on finishing your DW piece btw, looks awesome!

[BlackBalinese]

wow, these are all yours? you have mastered everything man. love the first post though.
all of 'em are awesome!

[staticpen]

Johan - Thanks man! I appreciate it. The figures aren't from the life, though. Pretty soon I should be able to get myself into some classes, and then I can hopefully really start churning out the life drawings. :D

BlackBalinese - Yessir! Kindest thanks. :)

----

After doing those pen drawings from Henry Yan charcoals to get my mind fresh on how and where to place shadows, I did a couple pages from photos on another angle that gives me trouble. I hate to send you from some decent drawings to more fumbling practice work, but I must tackle these things! :p

http://fc09.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/134/d/c/Scrap_14_by_static_pen.jpg

And most of these are imagination, working on that previous angle.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/134/1/3/Scrap_15_by_static_pen.jpg

I also did a copy of a McGregor Paxton painting with the intention of making some of my own brushes on the fly with dual brush settings and stuff. This is what I ended up with after a couple hours...

http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/135/a/2/After_Paxton_by_static_pen.jpg

Then I decided I've gotta stop being one of those people who half asses studies in the interest of time... so I went back in a reworked everything really patiently.

This is much, much closer to the original painting.

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/135/3/3/After_Paxton_Final_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Hitting the road again tomorrow morning at 5 AM. Driving up to Memphis. After that it's a four day trip back to California. Thanks for the support, you guys! I'll be back soon.

:D!

[NR43]

Enjoy the ride :)

[razz]

Hey, I hope the trip is going well.
About starting a painting with charcoal, you could try applying a tone with acrylics over the whole thing before using oils. This should keep it from smudging too much.
Great stuff all around, mate!

[staticpen]

Johan - cheers. :)

Razz - I did put an acrylic wash over the charcoal before adding the oils, and it smudged around... I think I'm going to go in either the pen & ink direction or the acrylic linework method next time. See how it goes. Thanks for the kind words!

-----

Hey guys! The trip went well. Not too many stories to tell, though. Some, but I've got too much to do to go on about that stuff right now. What matters is I made it safely and it's fantastic to be back with my friends. Here's a New Mexico sunrise for you. I'm there on the left, buddy Jon on the right. Five deer were actually grazing next to us when we woke up.

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs45/f/2009/147/b/4/New_Mexico_Sunrise_by_static_pen.jpg

I've been super busy here in California, so most of the drawings I've done have either been in other people's notebooks or on napkins or something. But I did get some sketch time in with a friend the other day. Here's that.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/147/1/0/Life_Drawing_35_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

Sorry I haven't been posting, guys! I've just finished a marathon of friend visitations, and I think I'm all square with who I need to say hello to now that I'm back west. But part of being back west means I have a social life again + I can finally work on music again. A couple friends and I have been recording since I got back, and it's going well. Not to mention I have access to video games again... I won't lie. I've been spending some free time on Mario Galaxy. :teeth:
But to top it all off, I've contracted a cold, so I'm pretty miserable right now. Staring at a screen for any length of time hurts my head. I slept most of today. But I did take some time to upload what sketches I've been able to get out since last post.

Life drawings and a group sketch at a yogurt store:

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/158/4/1/Life_Drawing_36_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs49/f/2009/158/0/e/Life_Drawing_37_by_static_pen.jpg

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/158/7/9/Life_Drawing_38_by_static_pen.jpg

I also decided a week or so ago that I wanted to develop a more consistent style. If I'm painting or drawing in a different style each time, I have to make discoveries and failures every time I pick up a pen. If I were to develop a way of drawing or painting that I knew inside and out, I could reduce the amount of hair pulling during conceptual painting/drawing. There's also the fact that the drawings I was doing out of my head started to look ugly to me. All of the life drawing has changed my style, and I didn't like how my imagination stuff was coming out (such as the dude in the top left, in the hat, and the blocky bald dude). So I thought it would be a good idea to start copying stuff from artists that employ a style I would like to be able to call on when drawing from my head. Two particular artists I'd like to blend together are Cellar FCP and Hiroaki Samura. So I started copying them and some other stuff that had the look I wanted.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/158/8/b/Scrap_16_by_static_pen.jpg

And here's a page of CellarFCP studies.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/158/a/8/After_Cellar_FCP_by_static_pen.jpg

And this is a PS doodle from imagination. Just trying to cement some of the lines and contours I was learning.

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/158/5/a/Head_doodle_by_static_pen.jpg

[staticpen]

I'm still sick, so nothing much else to show than this quick enviro doodle.

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/161/0/0/Enviro_Doodle_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Your pen sketches always amaze me.
And to think they are drawn from life... respect!

Hope you'll be better soon!

[acb12]

wow thats a really good sketch book (it took me some time to read mose of it @_@) i really like yout stuff and you really made a progress since you started which really shows that with commitment and dedication comes the reward ,keep it coming and gj ^_^

[lestikitty]

yo! static! it's been so long you may not remember me but i remember you :) i come back now and then to check up on you. you've really been making some good progress since i left. you're still as much of an inspiration as ever. keep up the good work!

( i so envy your life drawing skills)

[staticpen]

Johan - Thanks man! I do feel better now...

acb12 - Thanks very much! :)

lestikitty - Long time no see! Thanks for stopping by again. :D

------

Sorry I've been away for so long! Moving, job searching, catching up, buying and cooking your own food all the time, going camping, and other things of that nature really do take up a lot of time. But I'm in a bit of a routine now, and I haven't been completely lazy since I've been gone. A friend and I recently started a portfolio project. One, to get them up, and two, to create new images to put into it.
I've created my portfolio at http://jasonslavin.daportfolio.com (http://jasonalvin.daportfolio.com/)
I've also been in contact with Rio Grande Games, and we're talking about me painting some of their playing cards. I didn't have any recent medieval work to show them, so I painted these over the last couple days to show them.

I had this a little different in my head, but I was once again a victim of my own tendency to overwork an image. It's a lot cleaner and flatter than I'd like. Getting depth was a real problem for me, and the colors make it look a bit too Western Cartoon for my taste. But oh well, right? If Rio Grande Games likes it, I like it. http://conceptart.org/forums/images/ca_smilies/normal/anj_smiley.gif
http://fc09.deviantart.com/fs46/f/2009/210/2/8/Justice_by_static_pen.jpg

This one I'm a lot happier with, which is funny, because I'm much more familiar with figures than landscapes, and more familiar with lineart than straight painting... and yet the latter is the much stronger image, haha. :d
http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs47/f/2009/210/8/6/Snowy_Fortress_by_static_pen.jpg

Again, sorry I've been away for so long!

[NR43]

Awesome! Hope you'll get an agreement with that game company soon!

Can't check your DA portfolio here at the office but will do so tonight :)
(I'm on IE6 here on an old P4 and it doesn't like DA. Other sites like c.onceptar.t are even blocked)
Seems like some parts of that castle is out of perspective in the 2nd one, no?

[Nazirull]

alot of wow in this thread....cant stop flipping back thru the pages. It inspires me

[siiilon]

I really envy your figure drawing skills ;)
As for those enviros. Pay more attention to perspective, especially at the beggining of painting. That snowy environment looks like sit in several perspectives. Look at the trees in the foreground, they strictly suggest where horizont should be. So that the castle can't be seen from above. Here are few perspective landmarks placed on your original image(I am sorry if that's not appropriate) :
http://www.microcomp.sk/~zelenak/hints.jpg (http://www.microcomp.sk/%7Ezelenak/hints.jpg)

I suggest you try Mathias Verhasselt's grid brushes, so that you could establish your perspective guides really without pain. In evniros, perspective is very important thing, so that someone could have vertigo if the sight from high high above is done correctly.
Keep up, I am looking forward to more :)

[staticpen]

Johan & siiilon - Hey! You guys are right about the perspective. It got a little wonky in there. I never remember to make perspective lines because making diagonal lines in PS CS is such a chore. So HUGE thanks to siiilon for pointing me toward those grid brushes! Those are going to be a big help.

Nazirull - Thanks so much!

----

I got some advice on how to present myself as eligible for sequential art, such as storyboards, so I went with it. I'm going to be expanding a couple older ideas with more images of the same scene. I'm also planning on making some color storyboards of a short story sometime soon. On top of those, I'm working on a 2-page comic book spread with a friend. It's not a full book yet. We're starting small, to see how the workflow goes. Right now we're discussing aesthetics and character design. We're trying to do this right, so hopefully I'll have some character sheets to put into the portfolio soon as well.

Here's the wide shot for Daydreamer, a scene I drew up a long time ago:

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs46/f/2009/218/6/4/Daydreamer_2_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

You can make straight lines in PS CS by clicking(mouse)/tapping(stylus) the starting point of your line, then shift+clicking/tapping at the destination point.
The angle you choose is not limited like in Painter.
Works very well actually.

[staticpen]

Thanks for responding, Johan. Yeah, I know about that method. I don't care for it too much, though, cause most of my brushes are on pressure sensitivity. When you do that with PS on your line fades out. So I have to adjust brush settings every time I want to make a line. If you've ever used an oekaki applet, that's my favorite line tool. You click and hold, drag your line out to any length and direction, then let go of the click. Aaaah... :')

[danielh68]

Great work, Static :thumbsup:

Concerning the use of a solid brush to create straight lines, consider placing your fav brushes on a "Tool Preset" palette (if you haven't already). I've been working that way for awhile and it speeds up the workflow quite a bit. I have a set of special configured brushes that's just a click away, including a solid non-sensitive brush to make straight lines and solid shapes. You can configure the settings, opacity, flow, layer mode, etc any way you like, save it as a tool preset and the brush info is locked and ready for use anytime. It's so much more efficient than sifting through the typical pull-down brush menu and typing in settings each time.

[staticpen]

Daniel - Yeah, I've made some presets. I always think of tools when it comes to creating those straight lines, not brushes, so saving brushes specifically for making lines never crossed my mind. :p Thanks dude.

---

Been working on the characters sketches for the comic. I ended up trying another way of coloring and working with lines/selections as well. Always trying new things...

This is not a character for the comic. It's just improvised to try out a few things.

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs46/f/2009/228/5/9/Character_Sketch_04_by_static_pen.jpg

[NR43]

Wow dude!
This is really really nice!
Other than that the area of her right breast reads a bit weird, probably due to the fold in the dress, I really have nothing to crit. Maybe it would read better if the form of the breast was more defined.

I'm really looking forward to see more of your comic now!

[siiilon]

Lovely piece, great rythm it has. But unless she's leaning against something to her south/west, she would probably been loosing her balance I think. But that easily correctable emphasizing ground (which wouldn't be horizontal line I think).
But I love the rythm and shading, it's so natural. Keep up buddy

[TedNindo]

man Static, whats going on? No updates lately!? Well I'm sure your busy doing something completly amazing. Or your just relaxing.. anyway both would be ok with me. Looking forward to your comeback.

[DerMonkey]

dude, those linearts on the previous page are fantastic! i really love the second of post #391, that edginess kicks ass! :P
seriously, great stuff.
i also like the little daydreamer from post #408. very nice style on that one!
looking forward for more! :>

[NR43]

Hey You!
Where are ya? :D
You not posting can only mean a lot is going on in your life right now I guess.
Would love to hear/see what you've been up to lately!

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