Hey everyone. I'm new to game design (working on a couple indie projects at the moment) and thought I'd start hanging around here. You guys inspire me, so why not join you.
Here are some sketches I've done on the side of game dev over the last semester. Most of them are quick (under 2 hours), but the last couple are worked more thoroughly.
Holy crap! When did you post this?!?
Freaking epic of course, I wish I could paint environments as well as you. But you already know that; what brushes are you using for foliage? It looks fantastic!
And that day/night thing is pretty epic. Was that for the PK contest?
Muzz: I've been a lurker for awhile. Makkon suggested I become active here. It seems to make sense since I've been doing indie gaming for the last 8 months. :b
tok: I agree about her foot. Definitely something to fix. I'm planning on dressing that piece up.
I've been very busy with video game development stuff, but I have managed to draw a few things in the last little bit. They're all really quick...and a few of them really highlight my ineptitude with anatomy/poses I'm afraid. My tablet just busted so I'll be doing figure studies traditionally over the summer methinks.
My tablet broke the other day and I wont be able to replace it until I have money which could be awhile.
Lovely, the last one.
Recently i bought a bamboo pen(don't like it XD). Ups, that doesn't make you feel better, but your draws are...awesome, i really love all the colors, you inspire me sir(?).
pd: I used mouse til last week, so that's *counting* like 10 years.
Thanks for the nice comments everyone! I'm going to be cooking up youtube video tutorials on general approach (not how to's or anything like that) after the semester is over and I have some time during the summer. Right now I'm way busy with game design (which is exactly why i havent responded to this thread sooner, lol).
Your environments look great, especially the grass and jungle one! How do you approach these kinds of environments?
That's a broad open question, so I'll give a kind of broad answer: I take an idea and I work with small thumbnails to start off (it forces good composition without letting you get into detail work). After working that out, I run all over the internet grabbing references for what I have in mind (sky, clouds, mountains, grass, or whatever prop needs to be designed). I don't use these references like a photocopy machine; rather, I find many different pictures of the same thing, or similar things and stare at them until I start to work out a visual pattern that is common among all of them.
From there, I take my thumbnail sketch, make it large in photoshop and start to work out general lighting and color, rendering the picture from back to front, keeping things general and then working to specifics. Honestly, from here, I usually have 1 or 2 failed attempts at rendering what I want. It's almost predictable actually; after I get the crap out of my system, about the 3rd draft that's when things start to go my way. That's why i try and work fast, so that the mistakes I know I'll end up making don't slow me down significantly.
...now that i read all that, that might not be as general of an answer as i thought initially, lol.
You have a fabulous grasp of perspective, could you direct me to any resources or pass along any pointers?
Know the basics, you can never really transcend them. Make sure you can confidently use one or 2 point perspective. Practice drawing something mechanical, like something you'd find in a mechanic's shop. I like that sort of thing; they're interesting to me. Find something that you like looking at and just start drawing it.
Wow, looks like there are several people I already know on here.
You guys like the grassy one? I was trying to lay down a good composition so I could push it into a finished piece. Tell me what you like/hate about any of these, particularly if there are any that you think should be 'finished.' I'm trying to beef my portfolio up a bit.
Why don't you post more? Seriously!
Because I've been so busy working on that damn squirrel game, lol. Since the end of the semester (last friday), I have slept about 11 hours every night. I'm exhausted, but every happy to have some breathing room...even if i dont know what to do with it immediately, lol. I'll try and post here more, i promise. This summer is the perfect excuse to dive deeper into 3d anyway (and this place seems pretty geared toward that).
Still plugging in speedpaints whenever I can. All except one were done in photoshop in less than 1.5 hours (average time probably about 45 minutes). Still no tablet, so it's all mousework.
I just recently got a tablet and must say it's great, It's scary (scary awesome?) to think what you could do with one, wish I wasn't broke I'd send you one just to see what you can do. The perspective on the day\night structure is insane. Keep up with the good stuff.
Intresting choice of colors on your last piece - but don't be afraid to define facial muscle structure somewhat further, so that the image gets that little 'extra' Keep it up dude!
Here's some of my pencil stuff from my anatomy class.
Gonna call this one "Where mah cheesepuffs at?"
This was my final. We were supposed to copy some other piece of art or photograph and make it all blocktastic. So I saw this picture and thought it was way too fun to pass up. http://misswiggle.deviantart.com/favourites/#/d2rdait
Wasn't happy, so I drew it twice. I like the labels I assigned each one at the bottom of the page. XD
Hehe...I decided to pretend to be an artist and use something strange like a highlighter. I thought it was funny how the highlighter color disappeared when reduced to black and white.
OW OW OW ow ow...he wanted us to draw eyes. So, i found a mirror and drew my eye from an 'interesting' angle rather just looking straight at myself. Crosseyed. This thing hurt to draw.
I couldnt stare at myself anymore, so I took a break and drew this. I like it...it captures my stupid. There's no other way to put it.
Last one.
I'm excited...I'm going to be doing figure drawing this semester. I kind of haxxord my way into the class; hopefully they don't discover me as a non-major stow away and kick me out.
Oh yeah, heres a paintover I did. The original sketch is not mine...and I don't exactly have the artists' permission. I was going to tell her that she needed to apply lighting to make it interesting...then I got carried away @_@ (cube brush; used mouse)
First attempt at a somewhat fleshed out character design. I made it into the finalists in the competition, but alas, was not picked. Good experience, though.
The rest of these are less than 2 hours each (average of about 70 minutes, I'd guess)
just passing by- great stuff you have going here. The mummy reference in one of those sketches made me chuckle..imhotep..imhotep- keep up the good work.
Your work looks solid man, you keep improving on almost all images - so just keep it up. Push yourself to make your characters and environments by studying other great artists, there's still much to learn. : ]
Pardon the dump, but I've been gone awhile. University has distracted me, but I'm back and ready to kick more ass around these parts of the internet. I know more about modeling now too, so that's cool.
Rather quick sculpt of a ratzilla thing. I like him. One of my first digital sculpts.
Random speedpaint from my head. JUMP!
Blob dude. Because geothermal mud puddles need sentience.
End of semester mind dump (speedpaint from my head)
Sculpting Javik in plasticine because of reasons
Outsource work for an indie game.
Outsource work for an indie game.
Redesigned a poster for my first published game (eee! )
Sculpting from a plane. Because of carbonite. And reasons.
So, I got totally sidetracked with college and a bunch of family BS and have been away for awhile. All my old art forum places are dead, but this one is still alive and kicking!
Looking to bounce game dev nerdiness off of people here and sketch a bit. I've been an art director for various things (games and graphic design studios) and I'm realizing I'm not spending as much time sketching for myself as I used to and that's a pretty bad thing. So here's to working on it.
I've had my games at a few cool places this year. Pax Prime, IndieCade, and it looks like I'll be showing at least one of my games at MagFest and Pax East as well. Wish I could go to IndieCade East, but I'm not exactly made of moneys...yet...mwahaha.
Replies
Freaking epic of course, I wish I could paint environments as well as you. But you already know that; what brushes are you using for foliage? It looks fantastic!
And that day/night thing is pretty epic. Was that for the PK contest?
In this:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/beckypennock/11-24-09.jpg
The only thing that stands out and bothers me is her foot! Seems like maybe and easy fix? It would make the difference to me anyway.
tok: I agree about her foot. Definitely something to fix. I'm planning on dressing that piece up.
I've been very busy with video game development stuff, but I have managed to draw a few things in the last little bit. They're all really quick...and a few of them really highlight my ineptitude with anatomy/poses I'm afraid. My tablet just busted so I'll be doing figure studies traditionally over the summer methinks.
My tablet broke the other day and I wont be able to replace it until I have money which could be awhile.
Recently i bought a bamboo pen(don't like it XD). Ups, that doesn't make you feel better, but your draws are...awesome, i really love all the colors, you inspire me sir(?).
pd: I used mouse til last week, so that's *counting* like 10 years.
That's a broad open question, so I'll give a kind of broad answer: I take an idea and I work with small thumbnails to start off (it forces good composition without letting you get into detail work). After working that out, I run all over the internet grabbing references for what I have in mind (sky, clouds, mountains, grass, or whatever prop needs to be designed). I don't use these references like a photocopy machine; rather, I find many different pictures of the same thing, or similar things and stare at them until I start to work out a visual pattern that is common among all of them.
From there, I take my thumbnail sketch, make it large in photoshop and start to work out general lighting and color, rendering the picture from back to front, keeping things general and then working to specifics. Honestly, from here, I usually have 1 or 2 failed attempts at rendering what I want. It's almost predictable actually; after I get the crap out of my system, about the 3rd draft that's when things start to go my way. That's why i try and work fast, so that the mistakes I know I'll end up making don't slow me down significantly.
...now that i read all that, that might not be as general of an answer as i thought initially, lol.
Know the basics, you can never really transcend them. Make sure you can confidently use one or 2 point perspective. Practice drawing something mechanical, like something you'd find in a mechanic's shop. I like that sort of thing; they're interesting to me. Find something that you like looking at and just start drawing it.
30 minutes, mouse work, one layer one brush (with varying hardnesses).
Teaching myself Illustrator; this is for an xbox live indie game I'm working on.
this.
welcome aboard the pc boat
You guys like the grassy one? I was trying to lay down a good composition so I could push it into a finished piece. Tell me what you like/hate about any of these, particularly if there are any that you think should be 'finished.' I'm trying to beef my portfolio up a bit.
Because I've been so busy working on that damn squirrel game, lol. Since the end of the semester (last friday), I have slept about 11 hours every night. I'm exhausted, but every happy to have some breathing room...even if i dont know what to do with it immediately, lol. I'll try and post here more, i promise. This summer is the perfect excuse to dive deeper into 3d anyway (and this place seems pretty geared toward that).
This one was done with a mouse in Sai.
This last one was for the Concept Tag thread.
Video
(hd)http://www.vimeo.com/16323541
http://www.youtube.com/user/MissWiggle#p/u/0/TYziiLSCxpc
(Zombie Self Portrait)
Experiment. It's not a big truck--it's a series of cubes! (er...squares). One hour.
Gonna call this one "Where mah cheesepuffs at?"
This was my final. We were supposed to copy some other piece of art or photograph and make it all blocktastic. So I saw this picture and thought it was way too fun to pass up.
http://misswiggle.deviantart.com/favourites/#/d2rdait
Wasn't happy, so I drew it twice. I like the labels I assigned each one at the bottom of the page. XD
Hehe...I decided to pretend to be an artist and use something strange like a highlighter. I thought it was funny how the highlighter color disappeared when reduced to black and white.
OW OW OW ow ow...he wanted us to draw eyes. So, i found a mirror and drew my eye from an 'interesting' angle rather just looking straight at myself. Crosseyed. This thing hurt to draw.
I couldnt stare at myself anymore, so I took a break and drew this. I like it...it captures my stupid. There's no other way to put it.
Last one.
I'm excited...I'm going to be doing figure drawing this semester. I kind of haxxord my way into the class; hopefully they don't discover me as a non-major stow away and kick me out.
Oh yeah, heres a paintover I did. The original sketch is not mine...and I don't exactly have the artists' permission. I was going to tell her that she needed to apply lighting to make it interesting...then I got carried away @_@ (cube brush; used mouse)
Original (not mine): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v417/MysieBlondie/You-can-see-that-I-care.png
First attempt at a somewhat fleshed out character design. I made it into the finalists in the competition, but alas, was not picked. Good experience, though.
The rest of these are less than 2 hours each (average of about 70 minutes, I'd guess)
10min
5min
10min
1hour
Rather quick sculpt of a ratzilla thing. I like him. One of my first digital sculpts.
Random speedpaint from my head. JUMP!
Blob dude. Because geothermal mud puddles need sentience.
End of semester mind dump (speedpaint from my head)
Sculpting Javik in plasticine because of reasons
Outsource work for an indie game.
Outsource work for an indie game.
Redesigned a poster for my first published game (eee! )
Sculpting from a plane. Because of carbonite. And reasons.
Self portrait speedpaint
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1ttblfFFm1qlo56to1_1280.png
Environment speedpaint
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0dxxc61fW1qlo56to1_1280.png
The last one here is a game I'm working on called Magnetic By Nature that I'm art lead for. It's intended style is largely informed by art deco.
Looking to bounce game dev nerdiness off of people here and sketch a bit. I've been an art director for various things (games and graphic design studios) and I'm realizing I'm not spending as much time sketching for myself as I used to and that's a pretty bad thing. So here's to working on it.
I've had my games at a few cool places this year. Pax Prime, IndieCade, and it looks like I'll be showing at least one of my games at MagFest and Pax East as well. Wish I could go to IndieCade East, but I'm not exactly made of moneys...yet...mwahaha.
Whatever, enough babble. More art!
30m
30m
30m
80m
30m
30m
30m