Sketchbook Thread of Maozao

[maozao]

ok, i've done some more working on her and i found the artist name, he is an american painter called Scott E. Bartner

C&C are welcome :)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/rosto1acopy8.jpg

[maozao]

ok i'm keeping the value studies and i decided to give it a go on that heads workshop, seems real nice.

I'm working on this Caravaggio's head, i'm blocking it out, but it seems right now that at least the nose and chin are a little off, kinda tipped down some more than they should be. I'm going to try and correct it.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/caravaggio_027copy1.jpg

Also posting a gif, showing some steps on the last one. So if anyone more experienced than I can comment on my process if you see something out of place or maybe a better workflow. I kinda find myself real slow workign on those values.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/rosto1a-processo.gif

I hope i can post some ballpen anatomy studies i've been doing soon once i get my scanner to work.

thanks

[maozao]

perhaps i was too hasty to conclude my sketching as good and start blocking it out, i spent some time reworking her face

i think i got a better likeness, fixing mouth, nose and her cheek

maybe i should get back to painting later

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/caravaggio_027copy3.jpg

[anandpg]

Hi Gabriel! Great start, dude!:thumbsup: Definitely LFTSM!(ie, looking forward To seeing more :D )

[maozao]

hey Anand, thanks for you reply. I love your work great to know you are looking forward to some more of mine :P

Also i was afraid no one was ever going to reply, i get so anxious when i post something and no one replies, that's silly of me though. anyways, i'll try to post some more works soon.

[sivan]

good to see your work. Can you post more works may be completed ones or wip? Looking forward...

Cheers,

[maozao]

thank you sivan :) hopefully i'll post lots more

i did some more working on this caravaggio copy, not much of a progress considering that if i was to take that OFDW on heads i would have to be able to build 50 of them in 30 days.

well here it goes, any thoughts or comments will be much appreciated

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/caravaggio_027copy8.jpg

[maozao]

ok i've had some more time to work on that caravaggio

it's looking better now, but i still have lots to do
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/caravaggio_027copy11.jpg

[maozao]

this is the last update on it so far, i might move on to some other piece now cause i'm becoming afraid to work on that hair. any comments or thoughts on it would be much appreciated.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/caravaggio_027copy13pequeno.jpg

[maozao]

ok so i gave a shot on the hair and fixed her left cheek, now her face is kinda looking as it should, silhouttewise

hair isn't looking as i wanted it to, but i have no experience painting hair at all

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/caravaggio_027copy15.jpg

[maozao]

some anatomy studies/random sketches ball pen
i'll try to post more of these

any comments or thoughts are very welcome
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/anato1.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/anato3.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/anato2.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/anato4.jpg

[mister3d]

Looks good! Maybe try some shading on sketches. Don't know what to criticize as everything seems fine.

[maozao]

thanks mister3d, i'll try to post some shaded stuff also, i've been working on my pencil shading. i'm glad nothing pops out as really off or bad

[maozao]

quick skull study in zbrush, about 20 minutes, practicing some tools plus form and gesture not that worried about the finish of it

any comments are appreciated, i plan to work like and ecorche over the skull on another layer and finally and some skin and fat on the other layer.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/cranio1render.jpg

[maozao]

quick update on the ecorche thing, didn't have much time to work on it. but hopefully someone will be able to enlighten me with any anatomy issues. Something is feeling weird to me but i can't quite get what it is. I'll try comparing it later tonight with some anatomy references again to try to find it out.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/craino1b.jpg

[maozao]

some more work on the ecorche

somehow something feels wonky to me, not sure if its the eyes that are not well done or if some anatomical feature is place wrong so the face seems too vertical to mee. I can't figure it out :S

but anyways, i feel like i'm learning, so that's good i guess

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/craino1d.jpg

[maozao]

ok, so some tweaking going on here.

i guess the proportion looks a lot better now, i've increased the size of his cranium cause i noticed his forehead was too small and i changed the angle of his face it was too flat, now the plane that goes from his forehead till his jaw is more accentuated. I'll post some more of it some other time. Maybe I'll get back to some painting and try some colors.


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/cranio1e.jpg

[maozao]

some quick color study, i'm struggling real hard with it. not quite satisfied with the results

took me 20 to 30 minutes

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudodecorolho1.jpg

[maozao]

wow i just noticed the above painting show so lifeless in my second monitor while in my main monitor that i use to paint it looks so much better :S
i should probably crank the contrast some more next time

[maozao]

i felt like posting this small study i did using oils, it's not anatomy related but still it's part of my values study

lousy picture but i took 5 and all of them got those white spots where the paint is too rough and light bounces at it, the black jar actually looks real dark when you look at it.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/tela1.jpg

[Djampa]

Wow, nice studies around here :)

Awesome zbrushing as well.

Good to see your artwork. I'll keep track of you.

Cheers,

[maozao]

Thanks Eduardo :)

I'm working hard to improve my art right now, i have my mind set that i'm going to improve so i hope i can come up with a lot more stuff and hopefully better stuff

[maozao]

a couple nose studies
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudonariz2.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudonariz.jpg

[NR43]

Nice sketchbook!

i really like that still last still life and the bridgeman studies.
For your head studies, remember that there should be an eye's width in between both eyes. In the Zbrush sculpted head in your last post, the eyes seem too close to eachother imho.
Actually, the whole head could be widened a tad more.

[maozao]

NR43 thanks for the complements and i much appreciate the comments on my head studies, i'll keep an eye on that (no pun intended ;)) i think i do seem to draw heads too vertical

[maozao]

this one is a quick color study that took me around 30 minutes, also a head study from the 50 heads OFDW, i think it's far from what it should look like, but it's better than the ones i'm not posting :P

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudodecorhead65a.jpg

[maozao]

oh my this one is awful, i should better go to bed. at least i think i'm starting to pick the colors better, i'm not sure yet. also trying this other brush, it's hard switching to a new brush and i quite don't see much of a difference on the overall.

well nevermind the form of the face, i got carried away and it looks awfully distorted

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudodecorhead65b.jpg

[maozao]

quick zsketch

studying the mouth this time, taking a break from those color sketches

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudoboca1.jpg

[Frotze]

Hi maozao, I love your value studies, keep them coming!

Facial proportions seem to be better handled in these than in your few last ZBrush attempts, though. One weird thing I noticed in your full head is the flatness of all the eye region and the upper cheek. I guess you're using perfect spheres underneath (?), so it may just be the way the lids work around the shape, but it gives the impression that the eyeball isn't spherical.

Great details on that last mouth, though. I can really feel the weight of it. But maybe you could just bring it closer to the nose? There seem to be too much space between the too.

Well, that's all for now. :) Looking forward to see more of your work!

[maozao]

hi Frotze, thanks for your comments. I too think the eyes are too flat, i'm having such a hard time working around the eyes in zbrush, i guess i quite didn't get the hang of it, hence i lack knowledge of how to use the tools and stuff. Hopefully i'll learn it soon. I'm posting some new studies, i've redone the nose study, i think it feels much better now regarding proportion and how it sits in the skull,

also i'm attepting to find a way to sculpt the eye, even though i got carried away trying to creat wrinkles, but that was fine cause i've learned stuff doing it.

As far as the value studies go, i'm preparing this Boguereau piece that my paiting teacher asked me to copy, so i'm not abandoning those ones and glad you like them

wow, that was a big reply. Now to images

mouth nose distance corrected, plus i bulked up a little bit his chin
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudoboca1-1.jpg

working around this eye being less flat and learning to wrinkle
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudodeolho1.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudodeolho2-1.jpg

and my nose study
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/estudonariz3.jpg

[Frotze]

Hey, those nose and mouth look much better now, good job! For the eye, I thought at first that you used a different mesh, but I see it's not the case, so maybe that could help you. What I often do is create a polySphere and append it as a subtool, so that it becomes a separate object. You can then place it in the eye socket and use it as a reference, or directly as the eye itself. That way you got a perfectly round eye and can sculpt the lids and muscles around it.

[maozao]

hey Frotze, thanks for the quick reply. To be honest that first head attempt i had the eye as zsphere subtool, but somehow it ended up too flat, i'll try to study some more eyes, working with the eyeball as a subtool. But i also wanted to be able to sculpt the eye out of the same mesh, not sure how valuable that is though.

[maozao]

i have been sick for the last days, so i couldn't update anything, but i started this just Bouguereau copy. I'm not going to color it I think.

Still blocking the masses

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/Gabriellecopy1.jpg

and here is the reference

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/Gabrielle_Cot_1890pequeno.jpg

[maozao]

some more working on it

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/Gabriellecopy7.jpg

[southparx]

hi MaoZao,

regarding eyes hopefully this bit of information can help you a bit - it is screenshot from Philippe Faraut's DVD and he's an excellent sculptor,

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f310/southparx/snapshot20090626021455.jpg

he suggested to do eyelids by layering clays on top of a sphere shape clay - this way it wont be flat then he also points out some useful information as written there -

i too had that flat look before i tried putting actual sphere and sculpting the lids on top of it,try it and you should notice some difference

cheers,
andrew

[maozao]

thank you Andrew, that was helpful information. I'll post some more updates soon, and hopefully i'll get the eyes right this time.

[KarthikAL]

Hi MaoZao nice works, waiting to see the update on eyes.
Keep practicing:thumbsup:

[maozao]

Thanks Karthik, i'm studying eyes right now. I haven't been able to model one that satisfies me yet. I think now that my main problem is not being able to understand the surrounding structure of the face which contains the eye when i model it from a plane. I'm working on this head model to see if i can put my facial features studies togheter and perhaps i will come up with a nice result. let's see

for now

some pencil shading sketch of an eye, looks so bad after scanning, i'm not sure why. not finished yet

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/olho.jpg

and some more of my Bouguereau piece, i now think i could have picked a piece with some more contrast.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/Gabriellecopy14.jpg

[maozao]

just wanted to share my excitement with you guys, this is my first colored painting ever (well i guess i tried it digital before). Oil on canvas

i'll be posting more drawings later

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/limoes_m.jpg

[Frotze]

Love it! My only crit would be about the right fruit. The curves on the tip sort of gives the illusion it's merging with the box. Don't know if I'm clear, but just look at the silhouette if you don't see what I mean.

[maozao]

hey Frotze thanks for the reply. i get what you are pointing out, i lacked brush skill by that point and it came out with that mistake. i can spot some more stuff that i don't like but i decided to leave it as it is for now so i could start more studies, i'm studying how to paint glass and wood right now and will move on to other materials. I can always comeback later and rework it to fix what i don't like, thats one of the things i'm loving this oil painting thing.

[SpiritDreamer]

Hi Gabriel..:)
Been enjoying your sketchbook...Really shaping up nicely..:thumbsup:
A GREAT book that really goes into the structure of the head, eyes ect. is DRAWING THE HUMAN HEAD by BURNE HOGARTH...might be of great help to you in your studies I think.

I like that last oil still life..Nice brushwork:thumbsup: ...A good method to paint, is to get a colored wash on the whole canvas first. Pick a color that can be used as your mid tone color in whatever your going to paint...That color will act as a unifying element/color that will give your painting UNITY/ONENESS, pulling and tying all of the elements in the painting together colorwise.
Build up your lighter and darker color values from that midtone color that you first establish.
That's just one of many methods that you can use..I just thought it worth mentioning, in case you weren't aware of it.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing more of your work and the GREAT progress that will surly come with it...:thumbsup:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

[maozao]

Hey Glenn great to here from you, it's encouraging :)

I hope i can gain a better understanding of the human anatomy soon, i'm working on it although i don't post everything i draw around here. I bought a couple books on sculpting the human anatomy, but as you know shipping is something that takes a while to be completed, the estimated time was 40 days, so for now loomis, mr brigdman and copying old masters has gotta do.

I appreciate the positive comments on my first oil painting it's rather rewarding. I'll keep that method of painting in mind, but for now i'm still learning and i don't have that kind of freedom yet while painting, I kinda stick with what my master tells me to do. So far i'm enjoying it and the learning curve seems satisfying, i'll keep posting my oil studies and hopefully soon i can start painting at home and not only at the atelier.

By the way congrast on being a Grandpa ;)



no new stuff yet.

[FateBringer]

hey Maozao

great job on that oil painting :thumbsup:

Mark

[KarthikAL]

great job on that oil painting:thumbsup:

[maozao]

Thanks Mark and Karthik, i'm really glad you guys enjoyed my oil painting. I'm excited about it :) i'll soon post my new studies when they are finished and dry.


I haven't had much time to spend around here, but i'm updating that zbrush head study i posted some time ago. Thanks for the feedback on that one and on the facil feature studies i was doing, i guess it really helped me out to put this guy togheter. It's not as good as i wanted to and probably not finished, but so far this is the farthest i have taken anything in zbrush.

comments are always welcome and will be much appreciated

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/cranio1j.jpg

[Frotze]

Hey mate, looking good!

I don't have much to crit on the frontal view, really, unless perhaps the eyebrows that could use some more curving (and the pointy top of the head, but I'm being picky). For the profile, I wonder if the face is not too far apart from the ear and end of the jaw. There also seem to be something wrong with the cheek... I don't know, it's either too prominent, or could blend more smootly with the nose, in my opinion.

Looking forward to more of your traditional paintings!

[maozao]

Hey David thanks for dropping by. I agree with what you said about my model and tried to tweak it some more and compare it to some refs. I think it feels better now, let me know what you find.

About the traditional paintings, i'll probably be finishing my glass and wood study tomorrow, so by the time it is dry and i can bring it home to take a picture it will be already next week.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/cranio1l.jpg

i've also rendered with Ralph Stumf bronze shader, just for fun from the angle i thought most interesting

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/cranio1lbronze_m.jpg

[maozao]

ok so new update. someone gave me this hint that if i had the eyeball size smaller it would actually be rounder and it seems to work like a charm. i'm so happy my eye looks better now.

new update
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/cranio1m.jpg
comparison of old and new eye
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/comparacaoolhos.jpg

[Frotze]

Yep, I like the changes you did (mouth and nose look better). The eyes are rounder now, but they look a lil' alienish to me. Either they're TOO small, or the eyelids are too stiff, I can't really say. Don't give up! I know how hard it is to do convincing eyes in 3D, I always struggle on that part too. Also, it seems to me that they're more open wide, now, but that may be what you want. Besides that, I think it would add to the character if you worked on the eyebrows some more. They don't feel as integrated as the rest, more like a patch added over the forehead. Maybe try looking at some others references of less neutral poses, to get a feel of the muscles and skin folds?

[batte812]

Good work man! I like the oranges: excellent colors - the left one has a bit too much green IMHO, but great work overall. Keep going!

[maozao]

hey David thanks for the feedback, i agree about the eyes. I made some changes to the head, eyes, ears, eyebrows and mouth. hope i'm getting somewhere with this :P

Battle812, i'm glad you liked my oil painting, i do too think that fruit is to green compared to the other ones, but that's actually how it looked so i had to paint it that way :P

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/cranio1p.jpg

[SpiritDreamer]

Hi Gabriel:)
Nice job so far on this bust that you are working on...:thumbsup:
On the eye lids...Don't forget to have the upper eyelid protrude out further than the lower eyelid...In the profile shot,..there should be a 45 degree angle between the upper and lower eye lids .
The highest point of the curve of the upper lid is close to the inside corner of the eye, aproximately one third of an eye-width away.
The low point of the lower lid is one third of an eye-width from the outside corner.
These points, joined with a line, show the oblique axis of the eye.
THE EYE OPENING IS NOT A SYMMETRICAL ALMOND SHAPE..
There are clear examples and explanations of all of these very very important angles that happen in the human face and head, in the book that I mentioned to you earlier..DRAWING THE HUMAN HEAD by BURNE HOGARTH..:)
Looking forward to seeing the progress on this bust that you have started..:thumbsup:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

[Frotze]

Listen to SpiritDreamer, he seems to know what he's talking about (more than me anyway ;)).

Wish you plenty of fun with your camping trip!

[maozao]

Hey Glenn, you always point out valuable information thanks a lot. I haven't been able to get hold of that book yet. I'm trying to observe and learn from other sources for now. I hope the eyes look better now, i've tried to follow what you said about them and i guess it all makes sense as i have been observing other people's eyes.

David, thanks i'm listening to what Glenn has to say, but i appreciate and value your comments very much.

i have reworked the eyes area, i have also increased the eyeballs size.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/cranio1q.jpg

[maozao]

ok, i so after some time of being abscent i hope i can get back to posting. This one is a female head i did, following that male bust study. I was able to build this one from scratch in just a few hours opposed to days i took with the other one. Plus i think that i have achieved a better result (except for the ears i don't like them).

I'll be back to posting oil paintings and digitals soon

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/fcabeca2a.jpg

[maozao]

ok, long time no updates. i was doing some quick colors studies so i'll post this one here. not anatomy related but i promise i'll be updating this thing here regularly again

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/apple_001copy.jpg

[xsiyou]

excellent colors :thumbsup:
oil painting very nice:thumbsup:
Keep going!
Cheers

[maozao]

thanks i'm glad you appreciate xsiyou my work :)

i feel like posting this new oil painting, i just finished it i guess. but it's still wet and as i couldn't bring it home to take a decent picture of it, but i was so excited that was done that i took it a picture with my crappy cellphone camera, sorry about the poor picture. it took me a long time to work it out, but overall i'm happy with it. hard task acomplished, time to move to a new one.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/flor.jpg

[maozao]

qucik still nature color study

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/tomatoe_001s.jpg

[Frotze]

Hey Gabriel, keep 'em coming, those studies are great! Each time you post, I feel like kicking myself until I find the time to start posting my stuff again, haha.

[maozao]

thanks David, i need to post more often too. but you must be doing great stuff i take it and you are probably busy. By the way congratulations again on your short movie, some student at this animation class im taking was showing it as reference of good short animated movies ;)

[maozao]

quick color study before going to sleep

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/boguereau_eye001copy.jpg

[maozao]

some oild painting colors studies, im going for some studies before i feel confident to paint a full face on oils

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/tela_m.jpg

[Mu]

hey!

These do look very juicy and vivid! Go for a full portrait!

[maozao]

thanks Mu, i still have some steps to go before i take a full head portrait. I have done some more studies on that same canvas (some i liked, some not that much. but overall i'm learning).

My next canvas will keep on going like this but i'll take bigger head portions at a time. And on the next canvas i'll go for a protrait.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/maozao/tela_b.jpg

[NR43]

These are AWESOME studies man.
Really liking the different skintones.

I agree with Mu :D
You know, your first full oil portrait... you will always look at it knowing it was your first afterwards, so you're gonna end up disliking it anyway (probably). Try to make it with the same attitude you are doing the facial feature studies above.
I'm saying this because I feel you may be building up expectations by postponing it. If so, you will probably end up disappointed.

So throw away that fear for failure and do it! :D

[longhi]

Hey Gabriel, really cool stuff with oil.
You gotta some really strong skills.
Keep rocking man!!

[maozao]

NR43, thanks man, i'm really happy to hear you like my paintings. I'm working hard on oils, and i hope to be awesome one day, i'm not quite there yet :P I'll be following my master's advice on this though, and stick with some more studies before i go to a full portrait.

Glauco, hey buddy glad that you dropped a line around here, you're work is becoming excellent man keep on rocking you too. and thanks for the compliments ;)

I'm spending the afternoon at the atelier tomorrow so i hope to be able to post another picture of my next study here tomorrow or the day after.

[hamairon]

hei maozao! Loved your studies, you're doing it pretty well.

Where are the new ones?! =)))

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