Sketchbook: BigHoss

BigHoss

So I'm a member of a few game art sites. Never really thought bout starting one of these threads. But everyone here seems pretty cool, and there's a lot of characters produced on here so I figured I'd stick around here. Seeing as how I'm wanting to be an character artist. Anyway enough rambling. Here is my first 2d concept of a little alien guy if you haven't already seen it in the "What are you working on" thread. Anyway all crits are welcome. I need all the help I can get to improve my work.

Ged

good start, keep at it, try using larger brushes - I mean as large as you can get to create the shapes your trying to make and only use smaller ones when you really cant use a big brush this will give your surfaces more solid forms and you would have less scratchy random details like on the belly. Hope you want crits cause people here are pretty good at it.

BigHoss

Yes I'm wanting crits. I'm definitely in need of them, so that I can improve my 2d concepting, and painting.

BigHoss

Just something I was playing with while my son was sleeping.

PieJesu

You're working in 2D but, that doesn't mean everything needs to orthographic!

Get more of the perspective going.

In the above picture, the character's right arm is way too long in comparison to the left arm. The wrist needs to be shorter.

When you're working on pieces, generally your mind's eye won't notice the distortions. The solution to this is to flip the picture horizontally. After you do that, and inconsistincies will be instantly visible. Alternatively, if you're in CS4, rotate the picture around.

Believe me, flipping once in a while will let you see your proportion mistakes almost 99% of the time.

Same with the right leg, it's a bit thicker than the left one and, from this perspective, looks slightly off.

Other than that, the picture is fine.

Mike_Carlyle

even better man! keep it up... practice practice...

jouste

you might want to start structuring your guy out with some lines too keep those forms looking more together.

and hit the books! bridgeman is your friend (as well as free online!)

getting a strong grasp on anatomy is going to be the biggest asset you'll have if you want to seriously get into characters.

mike_carlyle speaks the truth as well. nothing beats a whole pile of drawing. keep at it.

BigHoss

So was just doodling and this is what I finished up with. I'm not sure if I've just been looking at it too long, but the legs look like they might be to thin. Crits and comments appreciated.

conte

Bridgeman is like Superman, check his anatomy books, he is totally superhero.

BigHoss

Yeah I've downloaded 2 of his books. Just can't seem to get his concepts down. Especially when drawing from my head. Still I'll keep reading his stuff, and work on my anatomy.

Muzzoid

When trying to understand bridgman you have to realise that his drawings are more sketches to explain a theory than polished demonstration drawings. But this might help .

http://deadoftheday.blogspot.com/2009/07/perspiration-anatomy.html

BigHoss

Thanks for that Muzz. With that info I should hopefully improve now that someone has explained how to understand Bridgman better.

tokidokizenzen

Don't worry about the legs The important thing is to move on to another drawing. Repetition will not only help you understand the human figure, it will also improve your lines. Not just lines either, it improves everything. For reference you should also check out Andrew Loomis. Cheers and keep it up.

BigHoss

Thanks Toki! I will definitely keep at it. Anyway again was just doodling before I went to bed. Not much of anything, but here's my finished doodle. His name is Fatso, and he's a space trucker lol.

Muzzoid

man space truckers was a horrible movie :O.

Were you using ref for this dudes fat? cause i aint ever seen anyone with fat socks quite like that :O.

keep up the good work.

uneditablepoly

Yeah, the first thing I notice when looking at that it towards the feet. The pants don't seem to be constricting his fat at all, they look more like they're acting as a sort of container and the fat is just sorta slipping out of said container. Doesn't look bad though! Keep up the drawing!

BigHoss

Muzz: Nope I wasn't really using any kind of reference for the "fat socks" as you called them. They were just something I thought to put in to try and pull some of the attention away from just the top half of his body.

uneditablepoly: I wasn't to sure how to do the pants. At first I tried making very tight constricting pants, but for some reason they just didn't look right. Although now that you've said something with the fat coming down out of pant legs, it probably would've been a bit better adding in a look of constriction.

Again thanks for the comments, and crits.

tokidokizenzen

Think about the story you are trying to tell. If he's a space trucker; consider ways to portray that. Right now he just looks like a fat guy.