Untouchable Sketchbook

[PariahJack]

Hey everybody, my names Jack and Im focussing on Creatures and Characters, id like to be a concept artist one day and... i feel like im not making any progess. So, since every artist community im part of seems to be going extinct, i decided to join in here and try again!

Heres what im currently working on:


If possible id really like to have some crits on it, especially the arms and hands :I Or, if anyone wants to, i have been having trouble for the past few days getting the legs anywhere near "right", so id be happy for every hint in that direction.

[Lamb]

If someone comes for a thriwing community to PK, the other one must be dead twice over O_O

Welcome to the pile PariahJack. We are all very nice here. Most of us aren't even legally obliged to avoid children.

First thing you can do is consider the forms of the body and the perspective from which we are looking at it. If you get the shapes and angle right it will automatically improve the life of your artwork. A good way to practice this is to pick a reference photo and trace the shapes in it, what shapes it is made of, what is the angle. Think of it as a 3D object (I usually try to do this by guessing first and then tracing to better understand the things that looked bad in my initial sketch).

Spoiler:

If you feel like you are not making any progress, make a list. What things do you need to improve in. Focus your studies. Examine the issue thoroughly. Ask why you are bad at that particular task.

[PariahJack]

Hey Lamb, thanks for the crits and the gif =) Ill try to take a look and see what i can do!

Also, yeah, somehow most other forums ive been too died long ago.

[johnway]

hello Pariahjack and welcome to the forums! I can't offer much in the way in advise but i can comment that the painting is pretty solid!

[PariahJack]

Thanks johnway =)
In the end i wasnt that happy with where i was (unfortunately i accidently deleted the picture so... >.>)
But i reflected on the feedback that i received and tried something new (pls dont mind the background, its my first time doing something like that for a character xD)



Ive also found two pictures that have similar poses and similar armory so i will use those as reference.

Spoiler:

(Links are: http://img10.deviantart.net/5442/i/2...an-d9c4qoe.jpg and http://img13.deviantart.net/d638/i/2...ry-d9br15z.jpg )

[PariahJack]

Couple more small changes on the leg armor and stuff. Ill just drop that here and you comment whenever you feel like it ,D

[djizomdjinn]

Nice, clean, crisp forms, everything reads really well. Your materials especially, I'm always impressed by people who can make objects really feel like a certain material.

But the flip side to doing paintings one part at a time is that it's hard to do the light interactions and other effects that bring those parts together. Like the torch should really be lighting up the breastplate, pauldron, arm, bracer, etc.

[PariahJack]

Oh yeah, im aware of that =) At first i did the fire reflections from the beginning but that confused me massively. So ive decided to do the normal light first and add the light from the fire's later.

[PariahJack]

[Lamb]

This turned out really great, man! I presume you are still planning on giving it a bit more polish? It's off to become a really nice piece.

Originally Posted by djizomdjinn But the flip side to doing paintings one part at a time is that it's hard to do the light interactions and other effects that bring those parts together. Like the torch should really be lighting up the breastplate, pauldron, arm, bracer, etc.

I totally agree, you can try to work in grayscale first and then use a "color" layer above. This way you can concentrate on light separately to color. It is good training and helps to cut up work into more palatable chunks.

You could also benefit from some more material studies. The brushstrokes on all surfaces look kinda samey which ruins their individual qualities.

The forms could be pushed a bit more too. The shoulder armor have a hint of volume, but it can definitely be pushed even more. Drawing in perspective is a good way to get to grips with that. Also using lineart only. This way you cannot fall back to color values to push the volumes (so it is less forgiving).

[PariahJack]

Yeah i want to make this a finished piece! It definitely will get more polish once im dont with all the major objects and stuff.

I am a little bit confused about this part thougH: "The brushstrokes on all surfaces look kinda samey which ruins their individual qualities."
Now i do know what you mean, i have noticed that aswell but so far i havent really understood how to change that. Do you perhaps have some sort of picture "guide" for me so i can take a look at how it would look better?

Ill try to work on the forms though! =) Thanks for the great feedback =D

[PariahJack]

So this is where i kinda settled on. Im not all too proud on this piece and i had a lot of difficulties working on it =(
I have however also learned a couple of things in it and noticed some missing pieces that i will hopefully take care of soon.
Here is a small doodle i started tonight and that i might want to finish at some point :I

[PariahJack]

Okay, the orc was really annoying so i feel kinda relieved working on this new piece.
Im working in grayscale now again as you guys suggested. Currently fixing all the things :I

[djizomdjinn]

Going to need to light up his right hand in some way, either with light source or rimlighting; it's getting lost against his arm and body.

But otherwise it looks great so far!

[Grieverjoe]

Working in grayscale can be a bitch when you're first starting (I should know, I still struggle with it!)
May I suggest Izzy Medrano's rules of light? I think he does a good job of explaining the basics of grayscale.

[PariahJack]

I havent really reached the hand yet Djizomdjinn, but ill keep it in mind =)
Grieverjoe thanks for the great suggestion, ill definitely check it out (in fact the picture seems somewhat familiar, i mightve seen that some time before) This is not my first grayscale picture though^^ i made the second picture in grayscale aswell:

[PariahJack]

Didnt really get far those last few days, but heres where i am right now: still many things id like to change by the end of this pic (including the color, just made it skin color to see things better)

[PariahJack]

[PariahJack]

Added the pants, worked a bit on the legs and he got a mask now instead of the initial horns/brows >.>

[Nmn]

This is certainly interesting. Looks like some LoL character. Btw, did you do that hand facing the viewer w/ or w/o a reference? Just curious xD