Legend of Zelda Redux | Twinrova

My competition piece was Twinrova with a "Tron" twist on the character design.

Well, this is a much more completed version of the digital painting in the competition.  And that is what I get for procrastinating.  But here it is.  Head over to the finals thread and check out the other great entries from other amazing artists.  This, again, was a very humbling experience.

I had a very hard time keeping myself motivated for this painting.  I originally thought that the idea would come together pretty smooth, but I ran into some difficulties.  One difficulty was making sure that the character would be recognizable, based on the original.


I had a hard time designing the outfit in such a way that it would keep well to the original, but also have the simplicity of the costumes in Tron. Not to say that the costumes in Tron are overly simple, but that the two worlds designs are drastically different.  And because of this problem, I don't feel that the original character represents, good enough, in this new design.  I should have spent just a little more time  trying to figure out how to bridge that design gap.

And another difficulty, that was self imposed, was my overall process.  I wanted to work from a line art base, to a more realistic finished product.  I hadn't tried this kind of process for a long time, and I felt very insecure about this painting because of it, until about the last hour of painting.  This seems to be a common technique, and I should keep up with it by switching between value and line.

But as for positives.  I like the composition, pose, color, and depth in the painting.  I tried to simplify the background as much as possible.  Seeing this is a character design competition, I should probably try to bring the viewers focus to the character.


Also, a few things that I haven't really done before.  Trying to simulate refraction with glass in the foreground and other areas of the painting.  Another, being the black hi gloss surface of the face plate.

Overall I am happy with painting, and it seems to show that I am progressing in the areas of composition, anatomy, material rendering, and color theory.  Some progress is better than none, right?

Pira Tess, Space Brigand | CGHUB CharacterFORGE 2D Entry

Another CGHUB competition piece, done in the Gimp.  You can check the finals thread here.  Everyone's pieces should be posted by the end of the day tomorrow.

I don't think I will get many votes, simply because of the amount of other great artists on the thread this time around.  But it is good to see the different techniques and styles involved.  I can obviously see where I need to improve.  Its a humbling experience every time I enter one of these kind of things.


In that respect, it seems that every painting I do, I see allot of personal progress.   Getting my nose into those books, practicing the techniques presented, and analyzing great artists, has been a huge boost to my learning process.  And I am loving every second of it.

Sorry for the jumping around towards the middle of the video.  When you are getting into details, it is hard to avoid.  But I did go through over 10 hours of footage to improve it the best I could.


One other thing I would like to mention is one of the artists in particular, mdonze.  This artist made an interesting post about his painting here.  Beside the painting being amazing, in my opinion, he used a process similar to the way a 3D application would render and image out.  I have heard about this process before, but this is the first time that I have actually seen it used for a 2D piece.  And somewhat explained.

This is something that I am planning on practicing in the future.  I do have an idea of how a computer pushes a 3D scene through passes (specular, ambient occlusion, color, alpha, etc...).  And I think a technique like this will help me use both my 3D experience with my illustration to improve my skill set.

Charcoal Drawing (Gimp Paint Studio 2.0)

(Click to enlarge)
Yes, another portrait.  I just cant' express the feeling I get when I begin to see a face come out of the blank canvas.
I actually tried to do a time lapse on the last painting that I did.  But I couldn't get a desktop recorder to work correctly in Kubuntu.  But I managed to get something working this time around, so, ounce again, I can share my process with everyone.  
I really enjoyed the charcoal presets in Gimp Paint Studio 2.0.  I think I managed to get a very realistic medium look with this preset.

Rope the Beast | Gimp Paint Studio 2.0

This painting was done in Gimp Paint Studio 2.0 (GPS), and took approximately 3 hours to complete.

This calls for celebration! Mr. Ramón Miranda was so kind to port Gimp Paint Studio (GPS) over to Gimp 2.8.

For those of you who aren't in the know on this. This is a wonderful set of brushes, color pallets and a slew of other stuff, geared for artists that use the Gimp. I really enjoyed using Gimp Paint Studio with Gimp 2.6, but when the move was made to Gimp 2.8, some of the functionality for the predefined brushes were broken. rendering it useless for my work flow.

 But the sun does come up in the morning, and this wonderful man has done a great favor for us all. And I dedicate this painting to him.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 For those of you who are interested in installing it, it is really easy.

First go to the download page HERE

And download these files:

• sessionrc para GPS 2.0
• GPS_Extras _old
• GPS_Gimp_Paint_Studio_2_0

When you are finished downloading the files, unzip them and dump them all in the Gimp 2.8 folder.

In Linux this is located in you "Home" folder under your username, and it is hidden.  So, you will need to be able to see your hidden files.  To do this completely depends on the file browser you are using.  I suggest doing a search to find out how to make hidden files view-able for your specific file manager.

In windows, by default, it will be located at C:\Documents and Settings\<your_username_here>\.gimp-2.8\  .  It is also, most likely, hidden, and you will have to enable 'view hidden files and directories' in your view options.

Pistol Whip

(Approx. 4 hours to completions).

Terishian - Competition Piece

Here is that competition piece I was talking about.  I encourage you to go and see all of the other, very impressive, submissions.  Lets just say, it was hard to post my stuff when going against artists with much more experience than I have.  But it is a good learning and humbling experience, and it helps me see where I need to improve.

I also recorded my experience to share with you all.  Enjoy!

Light Study

I love doing portraits without reference.  Every time, I find it exhilarating to see the face that comes out of a random sketch.  I often feel that I am almost obligated to put a story to the face.  I'm trying to develop the habit, when I do paintings like this, to have some sort of story running in the back of my mind.  To drive the emotion of the subject, among other characteristics of the painting.

Approx. 4 Hours to completion.

I actually started this light study on my Acer Iconia A500 tablet in Sketchbook Pro, and then transferred it into the Gimp.

Another Portrait

Ah...  I have had quite allot of free time the last few days.  So I decided to do a more serious painting.  At least a little more serious than the stuff that I have been doing lately.

This portrait was a study of light and color.  I wanted to have a good mix of both warm and cooler colors and have them work together effectively while still providing a pleasant contrast in the painting overall.

Mage Outfit - Concept Art

I thought I would whip up another video for you all.  This was mainly done in MyPaint, with some touch up work done in the Gimp. I love recording my sessions, and I thought I would record a piece of concept art that certainly breaks away from the usual way I do things.


This one obviously centers more around the outfit, than the character.  My goals where, have a simple color scheme and a strong silhouette.

To bring out the shape, I stuck to a line-art.  Line-art reads easily, when done right, so for a very short piece (1 hour) I needed to make sure, that who ever looked at this piece, could easily understand the form of the clothing.  Another reason for the line-art style is because I haven't done anything serious, in line-art, for a while.

And for the silhouette part of things, I thought that exaggerating one part of the clothing would add what the character needed for a unique silhouette.  Can you imagine someone with this getup walking past you.  The long tail of the skirt flowing just above a stone floor, making a very distinct but soft sound as the material brushes against the floor.  The very sound would become apart of the character wearing this clothing.

Another detail to the silhouette is the cane.  When I knew I was going for a mage, I didn't want the "traditional" staff, that a mage or wizard would have.  So, one of the reasons for the cane was to break away from that tradition.

Again, any comments, critique or questions are welcome!

Alchemy and Frustration

A glimpse at one of my Alchemy brainstorms and then a bunch of unsuccessful sketches...




I was thinking about other artists that I know, and how we express our frustrations from time to time.  I don't want to spread the negativity around at all, but I thought I would post a little session from a few days ago.  I am not sure what was going on that evening, but I just couldn't get anything I liked out onto the canvas, and decided to bag it.  After an hours worth of research and sketching.

It just doesn't work out sometimes.  And what I usually have to do, when I run into "artist's block" is just drop what I am doing and do something completely unrelated.  (Read a book, video games, talk to friends, etc...).  But just so you all know, I deal with this allot.  And, I would like to leave you with a word of advice.   Don't get frustrated, stick it out, it will pass.  And when it does finally work, it will feel that much better.

Comma

Time to Complete: 7 Hours

Bewitched Monstrosity

Here is a painting that I started during draw night last Thursday.  I was struggling coming up with a painting idea.  So I found a random phrase generator and "Bewitched Monstrosity" came out.

I also recorded this one (below), to give others the opportunity, as well as myself, to examine my current process of painting.  If you have any questions or critique feel free to leave it in the comments below.

Its About Time

Sorry for the dead moment there.   We Finished up the filming for Templar Nation last week, and now we are trying to get our ducks in a row for post.  Got some heavy CG coming up, so I have taken this week to rest before the next sprint.

Unfortunately the time that has been required to be on set and in meetings, have kept me from painting or drawing much at all.  But I was able to sketch a few things this evening, that I thought I would share.

These sketches were done in Mypaint.  I really should get into this program more often.  Or at least use it to touch up some of my work in Gimp.  There is a whole slew of tools waiting to be  discovered and used.


I have switched from Ubuntu to Kubuntu recently, since I bought a new system.  Thinking that I should try out a new interface.  (Also because Ubuntu sometimes feels clumsy to work in, because of recent updates to the UI.)  So far I am really liking Kubuntu.  Has the feeling of OSX, without all of the restrictions (user friendlyness) that comes with the Apple name.




A little of a heads up on my future posting.  Over the next month or so, the posts will be less. I just don't know exactly how much time I will have for personal projects.  But I will try to post what I can about Templar Nation withoutp\ getting in too much trouble.  Right now they have me working on a trailer.  Here is a link to the movie's website if your interested  http://www.templarnation.com/

Also, an apology for my friends at Draw Night.   Sorry I didn't make it this evening, I woke up sick, and haven't been in the best of moods today.  Thought I should spare you all the discomfort of a grumpy Will this evening.

The Protagonist

Been trying to write a short story lately.  (Writing is much more difficult than I thought.  Thanks Sarah!)  And the final goal for it is to hopefully design a Android based video game.
And, obviously, apart of that process is designing what the characters look like.  And here is a taste of what I have done so far for the protagonist.

"Cinders"

"Forget the Tea"

"Lost on the Path"

Ahh... Done.  Tried for a looser style of painting with this one.  I found that I like to struggle for realism.  But this time around, I let go of that want.  And I came out with a result that I like.  I enjoy the color in this one, particularly in the face and rocks.

I didn't do a video this time around, but I won't leave you empty handed.  Here are just a few snaps of the process.

Here's a Preview

Been a little while since I have posted anything.  (been busy with work, the same excuse that many people use).  So I thought I would post a preview of a personal project, that I have been working on lately.

Obviously allot of perspective in this one.  Wanted to create a sense of extreme depth both vertically and horizontally.  To bring focus to the character and to make it seem that that character is being dragged away from the viewer.

I think that I might title this one "Lost on the Path".

Alchemy is Fun!

Here is an costume Illustrations that I created with Alchemy and Gimp.

I have been watching "Chaos and Evolution's" by David Revoy and have been trying out some the techniques he has for coming up with character designs.  So after watching the tutorial for a program called Alchemy, I decided to have a go at it.

All I have to say is that this little program is amazing.  The way you can just throw down shapes and come up with awesome designs is a blast.  And the program itself is really straight forward and easy to learn.  (I did have some issues getting it to work in Linux though...).

I am planning on using this program for a while to bust out ideas really quick.

If you want to pick up a copy of Alchemy, its free, and its here.   Also, if anyone is interested, I am willing to do a small video of the process I go through, when using Alchemy.

Here are a few brainstorms I did with Alchemy to give you an idea of what can be done.  Each one of these took about 5 minutes, more or less.

Red - It is Finally Done!

This one took quite a while to finally wrap up.  I think I started on it about a month a go.  I actually posted about it.  But after getting shot down on some critiques, and other things, I decided to put it aside while I practiced some fundamentals.  I think overall it came out really good.

Here is a recording to go with it.  Just like I promised.



It took about 5 hours total time to complete. It was all done in the Gimp.