Need help with concepting

nkoste

I thought I'd pimp this in a very early wip state in hope that someone give me some crits and commments throughtout the process. I'm not very good with a pen and even though I've finished quite a few skins I have never really finished a concept drawing to the point where others might consider using it. I need to practice.
I've finally layed down a sketch that I'm pretty happy with. I want to make a detailed, shaded drawing, but I've actually never done this so any pointers or maybe some guidelines how to step through this. Links to tutorials will also be appreciated.

I'm working in Photoshop.

Thanks in advance

Enix

Well, color wise i would suggest darker colors, but thats just my personal opinion, i enjoy looking at dark colors. Just appeals to me when you see well blended dark colors, and maybe throw in some light colors for balance. Errr... If you are asking for crits on the concept itself, i think the nose looks a bit strange, thats the only thing i see that seems to stick out. Looks like a fun character to model.

moose

id suggest working on refining the line art - once you do a scratchy sketchy thing, create a new layer, drop the first layer down to 5% opacity, and draw over it, being cleaner and more precise. You can continue to refine your lines this way until you feel comfortable. You can also go back in and erase of of the extra lines that dont define the form to tighten the drawing up, make it easier to read.

shotgun

a humble attempt to help you get started?



I tried to stick to your concept and not alter it too much. I really hope no offence taken. If so, I'll remove this and I apologize.

tentively, procedure was:
fix sketch a little
block it in - never leave an outline. work on your negative shape.
start figuering out your palette. dont know how? read some books about color.
start block in shadow /light masses
second sketching, more anatomical structure = more plains, more masses to continue shading
expand palette to accomodate more complex geomatry.. and keep painting.

More advice:
try and not use opacity, paint opaque. youll learn to appreciate the "stregth" of eahc color you pick, and will leanr to pick them better.
every material, start from a strong, medium, base color. then paint over that. unless u know Exactly what color you need and where it goes and your name is craig mullins..

Hope this helps!

todman

I changed him quite a bit. (his nose is off) But, really just add a lot of detail and spend some time fleshing him out. Even though he's a monster use anatomical references for defining the bones and muscles.I like the tail like thing off his head that shotgun added, I used that too. Draw with a pencil first maybe, then scan it in.
Good luck

nkoste

Thanks all, especially you shotgun .

I sure appreciate the advice and I'm trying my best to use it. One thing I don't understand is blocking

shotgun

Okay, you are using very narrow palette here
Not that my picks are teh shit, but grab the image in ps, and look at the color picker thing as you sample my palette.
What you have selected is a very limited palette, with no shift towards cold and warm, depending on light (or absence of light). It may be best for you to stick to a more limited palette at the beginning, but dont just "add" white and black to it.. thats a no no.

as for negative shape: well theres a lot about that. When you look at the non existing shape, you use the other part of the brain. one side says 1+2=3, the other says the 3 looks like a booy rotated 90' CCW... if you get my drift.
And that side, the right side of the brains, is the side you want active when you are drawing... believe me!

start painting (not with fill bucket.. really paint) the background, black in your head, and try and see if you feel your brain is looking at the whole thing differently.

When you flip it over, vertically, btw, you also flip your perception...

I'ts crazy shit man
Our brain is a crazy ass mother fucker thing.

Nakur

One thing I notice about your painting is that he currently has no "creases" in his skin. It just goes from being light shaded to darker shaded. I think it would look better if you gave him more of a wrinkled look.

http://poopinmymouth.com/process/tips/edges.jpg

That's kind of what I mean. It looks like you are doing the one on the left, when I think it should be more of the type on the middle or right.

Anyways, hope this helps. Good luck on this, looks pretty good so far ^_^

nkoste

**UPDATE**

Thanks again shotgun you're absolutely right. I think it's beginning to look like something, certainly by my standards .
It's blocked in and though I haven't changed much I see your point. Still not done with coloring, but I'm taking a small break so I thought I post one without outline.

@Nakur: Right now I'm only focusing on the biggest folds. I'll add tons of creases later on, but thanks for the link. I'll be taking a look at that later.

Weiser_Cain

Garr, I'm at work! I cant help in color or shading but I can take a crack at some line work when I get out of here.

shotgun

Ye man, looks wonderfully better.

I was kind of hurrying off earlier on to class,
what you did is by killing the outline and making the background so dark, you pushed it all back. anywhere on the actual head that you will from now on place a value closer to the background value, it will look make that area sink back deep to the background layer, giving your drawing more depth.

Outline = flat. Stylized, u may say cool, but its prefectly flat when you have outlines. Example, right now, is around the ear.

Another thing I wanted to write is, a good way to start, as I see it anyways, would be stickuing to larger brushes. Dont even think about smaller ones (unless its for an outlin / strcuture sketch, etc). Use the larger ones to block in the masses, and only once that it equally done you should "level up" to a smaller brush.

Anyhow, to over kill this. Be prepared to start a new one soon.

moose

yeah man, thats a ton better!

shotgun gives some good advise, i agree with him too - it may be time to start a new one, and take what youve learned and start there, building upon that.

to counter what i said earlier, try working with shapes of color as opposed to lines. Lines are great for sketching out ideas and forms, but when you start rendering play with blobs and shapes to define the form of the object.

keep in mind your edges and sillouette in the drawing, sharp, high contrast edges will appear closer to you, as lower, fuzzier edges will appear to recede into space to really push the illusion of depth and shape.

loosen up a bit, you'll be surprised how much being relaxed helps. keep bustin!