Sketchbook: Adam Hodgson - back to digital
polycounter lvl 12
Howdy there!
I suppose I'm an oldie around these parts. Mind my monologing for a moment while I tell you a story;
Thanks to Polycount, 10 years ago I got a job at a games studio called VIS Isle of Wight (a mauled version of the now shining Stainless Games). For a chap of 16 it was great, games! I couldn't do more than put polygons in order, but holy crap, games! Thing is, I had the artistic ability of a mule and I hadn't finished education. So (with not too much pressure from the family) I gave up games art (and therefore Polycount) before the VIS studios imploded and got back into school for something real and solid, you know, like Science.
Four years and one A Level in Biology later I found out science wasn't anything like Half-Life made it out to be. So plan B; "let's learn to draw on paper, everyone knows real artists can draw on paper". So I drew on paper. Lots of paper.
A further 6 years on and a traditional animation degree later (where else do you draw on more paper?), I still haven't learnt to draw. But with the degree done it's about time I started using computers again and showed my face back on Polycount. So without further ado, 8 years later, here begins my re-entry into digital art and the Polycount community - it's been a long time guys![:\](https://polycount.com/plugins/emojiextender/emoji/twitter/confused.png ":\")
TL;DR - gave up Polycount and digital art 8 years ago, took up traditional art study for the last 6, now I'm back at the digital and back on Polycount, hello again. Crit me! I'm rusty.
So first, here's a look at the paper stuff I've been doing, starting with my first life drawing.
And a few years later:
And more recently
I suppose I'm an oldie around these parts. Mind my monologing for a moment while I tell you a story;
Thanks to Polycount, 10 years ago I got a job at a games studio called VIS Isle of Wight (a mauled version of the now shining Stainless Games). For a chap of 16 it was great, games! I couldn't do more than put polygons in order, but holy crap, games! Thing is, I had the artistic ability of a mule and I hadn't finished education. So (with not too much pressure from the family) I gave up games art (and therefore Polycount) before the VIS studios imploded and got back into school for something real and solid, you know, like Science.
Four years and one A Level in Biology later I found out science wasn't anything like Half-Life made it out to be. So plan B; "let's learn to draw on paper, everyone knows real artists can draw on paper". So I drew on paper. Lots of paper.
A further 6 years on and a traditional animation degree later (where else do you draw on more paper?), I still haven't learnt to draw. But with the degree done it's about time I started using computers again and showed my face back on Polycount. So without further ado, 8 years later, here begins my re-entry into digital art and the Polycount community - it's been a long time guys
TL;DR - gave up Polycount and digital art 8 years ago, took up traditional art study for the last 6, now I'm back at the digital and back on Polycount, hello again. Crit me! I'm rusty.
So first, here's a look at the paper stuff I've been doing, starting with my first life drawing.
And a few years later:
And more recently
Replies
Maya for perspective grid with a SAI paint over
You did the perspective grid for the digital piece in Maya? The perspective lines of the cross on the wall in your digital piece seem a bit off to me, but i could be mistaken.
Welcome back to the digital world, looking forward to see more of your stuff!
Guess the thing to learn from that; just because it's right, doesn't mean it'll look right
Clearing the backlog; Here's some studies from last summer made with GIMP - photo studies, round brush, nothing fancy
Speaking of tools, more studies made in GIMP, experimenting with some custom GIMP brushes. GIMP has some brush features Photoshop doesn't have (multiple alphas that can be randomised or attached to certain inputs (pressure, tilt, etc)), which is surprising, but on the whole it's pretty lacking and doesn't give much control.
Study of casual Bruce Lee
and some quick 5min studies from Al Jazeera reports
I've been told to try Painter but looking at the brush creation tool it's confusing as hell. Do any programs have a kismet style node based brush editor? That'd be cool.
Pulling together some stuff for a possible events caricaturist gig, thought I'd post it over here too. Good old real media.
When drawing portraits with one side of face in shadow, you wand to put the shadow over the eye so that one eye is darker than other.
Also eyes are spheres so you want to add subtle shadows at corner of eye (same as shading a ball) and beneath lids. You have some of that shadows on digital portraits but you need it more on the corners
cheers!