(Critic Welcome) ConceptArt Portfolio
Quick background design: The following sketches came with the study of design principles, form language and aerodynamic formulas, and of course, fantasy.
These factors were pushed and blended into one drawing as if all these stated points were one, and as if always had been.
The vehicle, as design object, always had a way of making it to an individual lif as either a trophy to assure social status or a necessity of transportaion.
In these studies of design, we have both fused into one, for although the rich side of the population had been wanting a robust, safer and linear form of a vehicle, the other round transports have been modified from previous models from vehicle design timeline. even though these are not safer, they assure speed and silence, which is crucial to deliver rare physical goods, which were almost erradicated in value from this digital/tech era.
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Hey Art people! This is a work assignment I've been doing for building perspective scenes, a Post Apocalyptic Happyland
Storytelling: Before that, a little bit about what I did and the storytelling involved: This is a city that lives in a joyful anarchy, I was inspired by Ska and Reggae Punk music, Cuba, Portugal, Spain, Brazil and latin countries in general, also researched documentaries about gypsy cultures in India and I learned a LOT of mind numbing cool things! A Gnomon Workshop from Syd Mead told me: re-invent the clichés... this is my attempt at that, I always keep that quote with me while working.
The process: I started off with rough pencil and paper sketches with basic perspective involved still, but not worrying about it so much that it got in the way of form language. With this, I also did a lot of thumbnail sketching, to get my mind away from the clichés. I learned that the horizon line and placement of the camera helped a lot to sell the two main buildings in front of the piece, as you can look up and down on them easily! They also do well at ignoring the roofs just enough to focus the story on the building facades, however, I decided it'd be cool to have houses on top of houses and that also did work out good, (I think?) I learned a lot about perspective in Photoshop. I hope you like this as much as I'm liking working on it, if you feel like it, I'd very much like to know what you think. Have a wonderful Saturday and Sunday meanwhile!
Hey art junkies! This is the coloring stage of the line artwork I posted last week, I followed a bit of everyone's advice and added/removed stuff to help the composition better.
Right now, I only based myself on the stuff I learned at college, gnomon dvds and of course, youtube... to take myself to digital painting.
I'm taking a topic at a time, and right now while my focus is perspective, I'd like to have a presentation of my line perspective work, and as such, I dared at painting it enough to be presentable.
What do you think? Let me know if you don't like something, or like something. I'd love to hear your thoughts, as always grin emoticon Have a wonderful week!
Critics welcome
http://gandulo-art.blogspot.pt/2016...pocalyptic.html
- Crime Scene
- My hometown spin into a dystopia
I intend to paint them later, but that's still my weak point to work on.
Did you make thumbnails for these scenes, or just started straight ahead and worked on one piece to the current state?
If not you should definetely try to make use of the thumbnailing process. They can be really simple and they should be actually as you draw ideas for composition, lighting and the overall focus of your final piece out of them. Also its easier for others to point you in the right direction if they have something to choose from. Once you start detailing you will get afraid of scratching things that don't work, so staying in that initial sketching / thumbnailing stage is important until you have something that you like.
Same principle for your characters now you have like 4 "finished" concepts that are soso, they lack something interesting and have all more or less the same silhouette/pose. Good poses would not let you guess where the joints of your characters are. The sniper character for example i can't even tell where the upper legs begin where the hips are and the proportions are of too.
Here the same principle applies make tons of thumbnails before going into detail and color, trying out different body shapes, poses, attitudes and so on. Also drawing characters require a solid understanding of anatomy and foremost proportions.
I would recommend to learn about the proportions of the human body first. Than skeletal structure to learn what movements are possible and where the joints are located (for poses). Forget about muscle anatomy etc starting out. Once you get the proportions joint position etc. right thats half the deal in making characters believable. Drawing people from life is best to train your eye for that. Ideally life drawing or for example site like http://www.quickposes.com/
Don't be afraid to use reference for poses.
I know that sounds like a lot of work but there is no way around it unless you are some kind of genius that can think everything up in his head and bring it on paper. Hell i had to make like 300 drawings of a fucking desklamp when i studied, until i got decent idea/shape =P
Ps: Instead of thumbnailing i usually draw roughly over a picture a lot of time until i have something decent. that of course is bad if you want to have input from other people =P.
I did start out with far interesting poses, but I ended up turning to photographs for the pose as reference, because the ones I wanted to do were very complex and for starters, I sticked up with a photo reference and didn't deviate much from it.
I usually thumbnail my ideas as far as design goes, and how I crop their view, but you are right, I should thumbnail light and shadows and all the rest by layers!
Thanks again! I'll keep these in mind!
Something I noticed on the face study you can work on. Break down the face into different planes, this will help you render the surfaces better.
Keep it up!
Your mechanical and architecture pieces are clean and easy to read. For sure that's your strong suit right now.
Keep at it!
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Last night I took some time to push the painting of one of the drawings I did, using what I learned from color and light and how some colors help portraying a dark mood with the help of value scale, aiming it to high contrast.
I wrote a little story to go with it, like a criminal file, I'll save it for my blog and printed portfolio proposes.
C&C welcome, as always!
miguelnarayan "Mythological" is a compliment I'll take any day, thanks man!
I like that you've added light to this. It gives the piece a ton more depth. I would push the lighting even more then what you have here. Warm up the highlights and cool down the shadows even more, also make the area just at the edge of the shadows the area of highest contrast.
Adding more material definition by throwing in some specular detail on the tile surfaces and areas that would normally collect water could add a huge level of interest as well.
Looking forward to more of these cutout environments, great conceptual pieces for a cg artist.
Before I could move on to something else, I had to 'finish' a presentation for the mushroom city. I didn't paint it, because I feel like the new fundamentals I'm learning about light and color, like 'atmospheric perspective' are not an exact match for it, I decided to stay loose with this one but still make it presentable for a portfolio, otherwise I couldn't move on to other pieces without 'finishing' this one. I added some research studies I did for it, added shadows and fixed the line weight on the far sides.
this is an awesome example of what I think you're aiming for where the artist utilizes a solid line work foundation as well as dynamic lighting that both work well together. https://cdn3.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/000/284/431/large/db_destiny_079.jpg?1443928491
I've been learning a lot about form by simply placing core shadows similar to what a 3D software generates to simulate form. I never thought about it until I actually painted it this way, after someone suggested it, it started looking less flat.
Also, with this work, I fetched some textures and applied them after the paint. It doesn't make much sense, since I painted most of it, to just slap a texture for added detail, but someone suggested it and it looked cool after all.
Thanks all for viewing.
35 minutes tonal drawing for the portrait and some extra minutes derping with gouache.
Scanned the costume design and cleaned it a little in PS to get rid of the fuzzy lines from the pencil.
Probably will be posting more traditional studies, turned into drawings, if they turn out interesting.
Struggling with art block the last couple weeks, so I went back to do what I found comfortable doing. A few thumbnails and applied what I already knew from color and light, pushing a bit to the ambitious side, because I never did a night/day color composition, it just happens that I ordered one of Art Center's entertainment design book, and it covered this issue in some detail. I guided myself with that.
This is meant to be a thumbnail test with a humble render, with this I tested: execution methods (photobash vs painting), color comps and design parameters (this is supposed to be a peaceful anarchist town, that recently acquired enough high technology to implant the buildings and make them hold for a lot longer, keeping the historic architecture and cheaper than rebuilding the whole town.
I did photobash on the first and last, the rest is painted. C&C welcome, as always.
I took in account the fact he was a college teacher, a researcher and a obsessed enthusiast about his late findings about the Cult of Cthulhu and the mystery around it he tried to solve.
I pre-thought about line weight a lot since I was on traditional medium and worked with very dark micron pens, it was crucial to think deliberately in order to save the sketch. Overall, it was a gold training I assigned myself to, be it in perspective practice and line weight, and also staging.
Ya'll have a nice week.
A couple of things that I think you could improve on:
Shadows. Particularly on the concept of the "Smuggler's Boat" and the one hut with the turtle shell as a roof, the shadows you place are very inconsistent. You do your line art very methodically (which I really like btw), but you don't apply that same attention to detail when it comes to your shadows, which is a shame in my opinion.
Colors. You tend to use a very washed-out palette, which you might do for atmospheric reasons, but particularly with characters, it makes them look sickly and pallid. I'd recommend looking at some photographs or paintings that you like and try to analyze where and how they use saturated vs. desaturated colors.
Fluidity. All of your characters are posed extremely stiffly. It's very clear that you're much more comfortable with inorganic shapes and how they behave in perspective as opposed to organic shapes which you seem to struggle with regardless of context. Doing some gesture drawings might help with that.
So yeah, I hope those points of critique are somewhat helpful to you. I admire how consistently you've managed to update your sketchbook so far.
I agree with you, I did not have such intense training in organic and character design fields as I did with perspective drawing, I really wanted to have that foundation right.
The boat design I am particular 'ashamed' of, not really ashamed ashamed, but I had no clue of how to render well until I picked up that Gnomon DVD from Scott Robertson, it was really a overhaul on the way I saw rendering, prior to that, I saw the DVD and was like.. 'meh, do I need it?' but it really made a difference, at least for my POV, after watching it I was like 'I can't believe this looked so hard and turns out it's as easy as separating values through a mathematically arranged scale.'
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On today's update, I was going to add a consistency between themes, but you know, this is a sketchbook that is open to critics, these are wips and sketches, and finisheds, not a portfolio.
I have a new schedule, that allowed me enough variety to work on multiple topics at once, and thus keep me entertained without getting too bored with one subject. (Long time coming on that one)
So I came to post a drawing schematic of a turret and a 3d concept art piece (later today), later on I may post random projects that have nothing to do with them, or just compliment the line work with a finished painting, either way, this is a thread to keep track of progress, a sketchbook.
you need to look less at this (atleast for now =P).
and look more at this, this, and this
I tried to find images that still matches your type of subject matter. but you need to challenge yourself with proper readability, clear shapes and a descent understanding of anatomy. your sketches are definitely in that direction, but you need to push those into a final presentation/image without turning it into what you just posted.
Disclaimer: Im not saying your latest illustration is bad, on the contrary, its probably your best work so far. im just saying you need to push yourself more if you want to be a concept artist.
Thanks d00d. You're totally right, I need to get out of this approach and approach the same subject differently, I already have some tutorials aside from artists on how to color rather than paint, as you suggest, (I will do tutorials because I'm a coward to try it without them
Meanwhile I will finish the pending projects in this style, I had already going, and then maybe look at Sergi Brosa and Borderlands art to try the same stuff, but different
@Nicorepe thanks dude, I wanted the soldier to have an edgy look, kind of like noir, where you only see half the face, you know? That mystery through light and shadow, but I think I overdid it.
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Meanwhile, here's a master study I've been fiddling with.
I found a real importance of doing master, film, photo and life studies everyday for one hour, even if the rest of the work I attempted to do later in the day, didnt go as planned, at least I'd go to sleep thinking I did at least a successful study, which is hard not to, because a study is a study and if you learn at least one thing, it'll be a success.
studies are a great way to improve, keep em coming!
Personaly, THIS is the kinda stuff I would like to see.
Love what your doing though!
I will try to fiddle around with flat color characters and a more stylized style, I'm leaning towards some street art I saw on streets, Jamie Hewlett from Gorillaz, and borderlands, I don't want to ape it though, I will need to be careful with that.
Anyway, I've taken a break from my long study schedule, I was drawing around 8 hours a day plus 3 hours reading drawing books and watching gumroads... it was very fruitful but worn me out, totally, after 2 months. I can really feel the difference in the skill-set though, but I'm chilling out on that. It was enough for me to figure out what warm ups I should do before getting to the main dish.
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On the today's work... I've decided to break down my progress with topics, for the next month or two, I will focus on creature designs, I'm taking the breeze of inspiration off watching Stranger Things, it was a gold inspiration, because we rarely ever get to see how the monster looks like but still feel the dark and powerful aura when it appears, I didn't risk to get influenced to copy what I don't see and just draw how it made me feel. I think it'll be good. Anyway, I've assigned myself a briefing, as suggested by a very talented colleague, I'm designing these thumbnails after a nuclear accident/virus breakout. It was fun to think about designing monsters with left overs of their past human lives, like gas masks, police outfits, etc. I still need to work more on the silhouette, but I think I'm managing to get a grip of rhythm and balance. I'll choose around 3 of these and take to a detailed portrait.
there is nothing wrong with using photos in your work, as long as it dosnt limit you.
Some notes about my journey in this first DVD lesson and to answer those concerns:
What I was hoping to achieve: Something I could show to a potential client that would look more finished in less time, like they do in ASC studio. This did not take too long.
Limitations: This bust is on the thumbnail sheet above, it originally had a big alien worm coming out instead of a flower, and I ditched it, because I felt it was too much, I did not find it very limiting for now. Because when I felt that I was limited by the original photo, by having to place a alien worm that was not there, I went to sculpt in zbrush, copied the camera angle and focal lens, light source color and directional light and it did blend realistically all the same (props to Keyshot!) with some photoshop tweaking and minor paintover... I would not sacrifice the original design choices for a quicker and easier process, just as using photos, otherwise I'd just leave a sketch.
Challenge completed: I never used 3D along with a photo manipulation, not up this close and to a portrait shot, but it went well. I was looking at how ASC uses Zbrush and Photos in their concept art as well, so I thought, if it can be done and has been done before... why not.
I sculpted it in Zbrush, painted it there and rendered it with the same light source color and direction. But later got rid of it because there was a major competition between the worm and the victim's face, and all of the sudden all the detail I spent on the face was ignored by the strange worm taking the protagonism in the picture.
Other routes I'd take if I was to make a dragon:
1. Long and artsy method: If I had to make a dragon, I'd either sketch it in paper and paint digitally from scratch, there is a technique from Jon Foster I have been wanting to try, he starts his paintings with traditional media (oils, color pencils), then finishes them in digital, they look amazing. I'd probably try it. I will, in future.
2. Quick method: There is a chapter in the DVD that covers the same kind of concept art shots but with reptiles and monsters, I haven't looked at it yet, I want to absorb a lot of each lesson. But I would guess it has to do with going into Zbrush, assigning all parts of the sculpt a base color/value, render and then use animal photos and paint over them to finish the job, guided by the original sculpt render.
3. Quick method nr2: I could probably sketch something in lines again, then scan it and put photos of animals over the sketch and paint on top to respect the original line sketch forms and overlaps. I would not have a ability to rotate the sketch like option 2, with a zbrush sculpt though.
Sorry for a post with no art, I tried to make it informative nonetheless. Thanks for your comments! I do like painterly stuff as well, and it will come around, I just don't think it is suited for this series of DVDs on creature design I have to study under a designer who never uses such mediums!
keep it up!
I recommend this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Color-Light-Realist-Painter-Gurney/dp/0740797719 or just finding some good info on this topic online eg http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/light-and-form-part-1_15.html. It will really lift the overall quality of your work.
I need to revisit some fundamentals of light and shadow colors, thank you for the book, I've heard of it. I've noticed that most times what I find appealing are the shadow colors in a image, I'll look forward applying it when painting, I just tend to be afraid of doing it, its easy for me to get the wrong temperature and instead make the shadows look muddy. But now I know what I can improve on.
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Meanwhile here is a second portrait, before I go into the full body concept art.
I wasted more time in the sculpt than I'd like, the sculpting itself was fast, but the texture was not applying correctly, and I spent too much time fiddling with settings to export it right, then polycount and memory got in the way, I finally was able to decimate it right and do a base rig, before rendering in keyshot and painting over complex stuff that would be too difficult/time consuming for 3D to just present the concept better.
Still studying techniques of Aaron Sims from Gnomon DVDs, this one was one of his methods, I just replaced his XSI renders with keyshot and Zbrush polypaint before painting in Photoshop.
Balancing composition in this one was particularly difficult, I usually look up Rembrandt portaits and study his compositions, but for an humanoid portrait like this, the shape was too different from the real humans he painted, I had to improvise a little and exercise some common sense for the best view.
I'm not very happy with it, and don't know why. Maybe I stared at it too much.