At 4/12/15 09:40 AM, Havegum wrote:

At 4/12/15 01:01 AM, fxscreamer wrote: Did a bunch of cleanup. Lots to do, but getting closer. :D

I don't want to be a party pooper because it's looking cool, but design-wise I'm a bit skeptical to the mechanics of a leg gun with a wired trigger hanging loose.

How would running be like with that leg and the wire hanging around with a trigger attached to it? Perhaps it would make more sense to have the wire go under the clothes and perhaps come out at some point where it would be easier to reach and fire?

The shoe seems to be solid over the ankle (like snowboard shoes). On a more technical side that means he has to aim with his lower leg muscles, and can't run and walk as easily - but perhaps more importantly on an artistic level, it means that joint always has to be in that set angle. By allowing mobility in the ankle you open up for better flow through the legs which allows more striking dynamic poses!

Something to consider maybe

All valid points. It really just boiled down to what I thought looked cool. Btw, his leg is a prosthetic, not a boot. The toe opens up and the guns come out. :P

Anyway.....it's DONE! Also has a speed paint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDxRaDQCqXU

I realized I'm having a bit of an art crisis. I had my ass handed to me in a critique forum and became vividly (and sadly) aware that I seriously need to keep working on my traditional studies and fundamentals.

Right now I'm focusing on life studies and color theory, but I will be moving to focus in gesture, anatomy (oh god anatomy), expressions, etc. All of this will come full circle once I draw my characters again. Hell, I already have an idea eventually to paint one of them in a dramatic CG painted look, sometime this year anyway. We'll see.

Here's some objects I grabbed in my room and started painting. Each one is an hour or less. Here's my coffee cup. :D

My Wacom pen holder.

A key I found in my drawer.

Aw hell, here's some Ivan Expressions. I won't abandon you kitties! LOL :D

At 4/22/15 02:34 AM, fxscreamer wrote: anatomy (oh god anatomy)

Yesss...

At 4/22/15 02:34 AM, fxscreamer wrote: I had my ass handed to me in a critique forum and became vividly (and sadly) aware that I seriously need to keep working on my traditional studies and fundamentals.

Great!

From the coffee mug study, I see you used large soft brushes. This is fine, but don't forget to emphasise those edges afterwards! I think doing a few studies with a 100% opaque brush will help you identify, render and exaggerate edges. You seem to have more control over this in the other studies so maybe you already became more aware of edge play as you went along, that's great!

Other than that the objects don't feel grounded on the surface they lay on. Use darker values to emphasise this!

At 4/22/15 03:20 AM, Havegum wrote:

At 4/22/15 02:34 AM, fxscreamer wrote: I had my ass handed to me in a critique forum and became vividly (and sadly) aware that I seriously need to keep working on my traditional studies and fundamentals.

Great!

From the coffee mug study, I see you used large soft brushes. This is fine, but don't forget to emphasise those edges afterwards! I think doing a few studies with a 100% opaque brush will help you identify, render and exaggerate edges. You seem to have more control over this in the other studies so maybe you already became more aware of edge play as you went along, that's great!

Other than that the objects don't feel grounded on the surface they lay on. Use darker values to emphasise this!

Thanks. The background on the coffee cup was just roughed and didn't think much about it. The second two I tried laying down shadows a bit more, mimicking the values as much as possible that were in front of me. I'm in a subtly lit room, so no obvious spotlights. I could do better on some of the edges (the coffee cup), but I wanted to try what I could freehand first. I used a bit more of the vector / pen tool on the other images...some texture work on the key.

Ok, I'm not gonna lie here...I feel pretty damn good about how this came out. It's the first time I've ever tried painting glass, let alone a life study of the thing right in front of me. This was 1 hour.

At 4/22/15 11:35 PM, fxscreamer wrote: Ok, I'm not gonna lie here...I feel pretty damn good about how this came out. It's the first time I've ever tried painting glass, let alone a life study of the thing right in front of me. This was 1 hour.

You deserve a shot after that. huehuehueheuheuheu

At 4/23/15 12:19 AM, 123mine123 wrote:

At 4/22/15 11:35 PM, fxscreamer wrote: Ok, I'm not gonna lie here...I feel pretty damn good about how this came out. It's the first time I've ever tried painting glass, let alone a life study of the thing right in front of me. This was 1 hour.

You deserve a shot after that. huehuehueheuheuheu

You have no idea how many drinks I've made in this glass. :D ..... true story.

Playing around with young versions of Enzo. Also, I made a new artist blog video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bpZudh2lUc

I'm starting to take a bunch of premium Proko classes on figure drawing and anatomy so a majority of my time will be learning that for many months....so less cats for awhile. However, I still try to get a little something in day to day.

I'm still working on Daphne's design and outfit. I personally really dig women's 60's fashion, so I sorta pulled that cliche Austin Powers secret agent girl look. One piece dresses with a jacket and white gogo boots.....possible win? She's supposed to be about 15, in high school, and from a rich, but messed up family.

Doing a bunch of exercises. I must say that I'm doing a lot more figure drawing than anatomy at the moment. I keep bouncing back and forth between anatomy and figure lessons. The top 4 and sitting pose I did from my head. The 2 standing poses on the bottom I did from reference.

There are untimed poses. They averaged 5 minutes each I think.

Those are some gorgeous gestures Fx! Really pleasant to look at.

At 5/2/15 02:08 AM, 123mine123 wrote: Those are some gorgeous gestures Fx! Really pleasant to look at.

Thanks. :D I ended up taking one of them and doing another Holly redesign, cause I've never been fully happy with her look. Here's 60's fashion Holly with some bigger mom hips and Jennifer Aniston hair. LOL

Not really sure how to judge anthropomorphic art, but I have to say that you really do great pieces that adhere to fluidity and dynamics. Your work doesn't appear stiff, they all appear to be somewhat alive and in motion. I have to commend you for this since such a feat is not easy to achieve. Kudos to you.

I am mostly impressed since I myself is struggling with this aspect of art. Cheers!

At 5/3/15 10:25 PM, JojoDodo wrote:

At 5/3/15 10:11 PM, fxscreamer wrote: Thanks. :D I ended up taking one of them and doing another Holly redesign, cause I've never been fully happy with her look. Here's 60's fashion Holly with some bigger mom hips and Jennifer Aniston hair. LOL

Ok...Don't mean to sound like an asshole, but I've been through your stuff a couple of times...an even if i like your style, and your line...especially your line, you've got a gorgeous line, i kinda feel you'll benefit from trying new things...drawing something else, other styles, etc, idk...i fell that your work has a tendency to be...uhhmmmm..predictable, i think that's the best word i can think of right now. I don't know what you think about this...

Well, I guess I'm not sure what you mean. I've experimented with many styles over the last year for fun, some with a tiny Stephen Silver feel, and others as straight up Glen Keane from Disney (one of my main inspirations). I've also done overly toony aesthetics which were far exaggerated. My style has vastly changed just through the course of drawing and understanding the fundamentals better. I'm basically in a speeding car with the gas pedal slammed down, and am just trying to steer it and not crash. There's a specific style I gravitate to hovering from the 90's era. In fact, I've only heard the exact opposite of what you're saying...that my style is becoming more and more distinct as I keep going (yay!). Thanks for the comments though.

At 5/3/15 10:28 PM, Fifty-50 wrote: Not really sure how to judge anthropomorphic art, but I have to say that you really do great pieces that adhere to fluidity and dynamics. Your work doesn't appear stiff, they all appear to be somewhat alive and in motion. I have to commend you for this since such a feat is not easy to achieve. Kudos to you.

I am mostly impressed since I myself is struggling with this aspect of art. Cheers!

Thanks! I'm still trying to get better at gesture and sometimes I feel like I barely hanging on. :P BTW, here's Daphne all cleaned up.

I'm doing shitloads of studies and ripping my hair out with failure, but every now and then I return to character design practice. Archer needs some work and I plan to give him a complete makeover. Here's the progress so far.

Here's my weekend fun time. After doing lots of studies and absolutely SUCKING at the robo bean method, I decided to draw Archer spilling coffee on himself. What a great way to start the day. :D

I love it, it's a great job , of course you have a great mastery of anatomy

At 5/10/15 05:18 PM, romanlo wrote: I love it, it's a great job , of course you have a great mastery of anatomy

Haha thanks, but I hardly think I've mastered it yet. I just started doing actual anatomy and figure studies just a few weeks ago :P.

I'm taking a crack at mannequinization studies. I did these 4 tonight. They aren't exactly like the examples, but I go in blind and give it my own try before I compare. I'm still figuring out when and where to put certain shapes to show the form, and of course I'm starting with gesture before I block it all in.

Thursday night studies and a quick character sketch.

Streaming for a bit

https://www.picarto.tv/live/channel.php?watch=fxscreamer

I had a productive day in the stream today. Believe it or not, this is far from finished. I just wanted to color splash it a bit. My goal is to attack this as a painting and make it look like CG (aka Pixar) with dramatic lighting. We'll see how well / bad it goes. I'm giving it the week to try. :P

Here's Titus again.

This week I'm putting my normal studies off and attacking some color theory and shading. I have never attempted a piece like this before so I'm a bit nervous. I drew up my villain Titus (did some fixes as well). I started on his head and shirt tonight. There is a spotlight above his head. I imagine him being in some dark warehouse like a creepy computer server room or electric generator. Here's my progress.

But do not be nervous , it's good to try and fail , as long as you learn , good luck and hope that better

Well, I think it's nearly there...this is 95% done. I was going to add more of a background, but it was distracting to the character, especially ceiling lights. I feel fairly happy with my first actual painting. Here's hopefully to many more! (and getting better). I should have it in my official gallery tomorrow in full hi-res.

At 5/22/15 01:28 AM, fxscreamer wrote: Well, I think it's nearly there...this is 95% done. I feel fairly happy with my first actual painting.

That looks pretty and dramatic! Nice job Fx! :3

At 5/22/15 02:38 AM, 123mine123 wrote:

At 5/22/15 01:28 AM, fxscreamer wrote: Well, I think it's nearly there...this is 95% done. I feel fairly happy with my first actual painting.

That looks pretty and dramatic! Nice job Fx! :3

Thanks! :P Anyway, here's some Enzo sketches from last night. Working on expressions.