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Sketchbook: Sam Hakem

polycounter lvl 14
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samhakem polycounter lvl 14
hey guys...im in my second (FINAL NOW, MSC 3D ) year of 3D Art at Swinburne in Melbourne...would love some constructive criticism on my concepts! Im trying to push my drawing to an industry level...Ive been drawing for maybe a little over 12 months so Im still a noob

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  • BunnyJen
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    BunnyJen polycounter lvl 6
    Hi there!

    Well I'm no expert but from looking at this so far I'll try and offer a little crit from my perspective. :)

    Do they offer life drawing classes on your course? I find they really do help!

    At the moment I'd say the legs and hands look pretty cool. The chest and his shoulders look out of proportion though. Also I'd say perhaps changing the pose might help. Have him standing on a flat surface maybe, rather than floating. This might help give him more sense of weight and might help you with the proportion.

    I'm learning at the moment also and the thing that everyone tells me is work on your lighting. Decide where the light source is, draw a little marker in if it helps, then work out how the character would be lit from that adding highlights and shadows.

    I'm finding that really concentrating on my lighting is helping me so much, you lose the outlines ( outlines don't exist) and it adds form and shape instantly.

    I hope this helps a little bit, but as I said I'm no expert so by all means ignore me hahha! :D Good luck with your work. :)
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    Wow thanks so much! Thats great feedback, you really hit the nail on the head...really helpful! Your totally right about the light source and my proportions...I know about using a light source but always seem to forget to implement it know what I mean? Life drawing? I wish lol! I know I desperately need it...

    here are some updates, unfortunately I did these before I saw your post...Im going to start putting in a light source everytime from now on and putting my characters flat...oh and I have bought a muscular system wall chart! ; ) Should help i hope!

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  • wake
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    wake polycounter lvl 17
    Hey Sam, not bad for only 12 months drawing. Jen hit most of the points, though I would add a couple of things.

    Make sure you're always working from reference when you're learning anatomy. It can be frustrating, especially when you have trouble finding reference for a particular pose that you want to do (though that's when you can just photograph your handsome self like I do :D), but it'll go a long way.

    Also, start with the skeleton. Having a good sense of the bone structure will really help give your work some solidity and help keep your proportions in check. Learning the musculature is equally important, but it helps to know what they attach to first :)

    There are all kinds of resources on the internet, and it'll also help to get some artist anatomy books to explain things.

    Keep up the good work-- I want to see the next batch.
  • BunnyJen
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    BunnyJen polycounter lvl 6
    That sites wicked. Have you guys seen this one? http://www.characterdesigns.com/index.php?sitepage=photosets

    I'm sure wake will have, but I find it quite handy for getting poses, particularly stuff you might see in games as they have specific photoshoots where models pose with guns and stuff. :)
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    Wow guys those links were instantly book marked! If only I had known! haha lol well Ive finished this run of concepts with all the mistakes...next run (same character) I will implement all your awesome feedback...thanks so much!

    Wake..one question...when you say skeleton do you mean actual skeletal system or a wireframe...I do wireframes with block outs but not a full skeleton...

    Here is the latest batch...next batch hopefully will be a big improvement! : )

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  • wake
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    wake polycounter lvl 17
    Both :) When you're drawing the figure obviously you're not going to render out the entire skeleton; that's when you'll use a wire-frame for structure. However, that wireframe needs to be informed by knowledge of the actual skeleton, particularly in places like the skull, hips and pelvis. Spending time drawing the skeleton from different angles will help to give you an eye for regular figure drawing, and to know where the skin will be pulled tight around the bones etc. Once I get a new scanner I'll start posting some of my old studies of muscles and bone to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about (currently getting ready to move so that may take a while :poly116:)

    What you don't need to do is spend time studying internal organs or more minute systems. While that knowledge is cool and great, it won't really affect your drawings so you could spend your time in better ways.

    (as a side note, I'm not seeing any of your updates. The only image I can see is from your first post. You're not just messing with my head are you? :D)
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    Right! I get it now! I am going to get a skeletal wall chart...and really "flesh" hehe out my wireframes more then! Thanks! BTW i saw yours wake, and Jen's sketchbooks...damn guys...some wicked stuff...you guys set a high bar dammit....

    Oh and I think I fixed my images...I posted TIFF's so maybe that was it...they're now JPG's...that should do the trick! Sorry Wake... :) wasn't meaning ta mess wit ya!

    Im going to do a new batch of concepts for this character but I am going to use a light source, flat surface, skeletal chart, muscle chart, use shade and less line...and hopefully push to a new level...HOPEFULLY

    He actually needs to be converted to an Ortho Model sheet at some stage and build cause he is for a school project I've got to complete

    :\
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    with lighte source...skeletal study, muscle study, flatter surface, and more shading and less line...this was really hard for me...

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  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    I still think I havent quite got there...need to move his right ab set over a touch I think
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    its getting easier...profile this time...

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  • wake
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    wake polycounter lvl 17
    School project huh? I take it this is for an art class sam? How about this-- let us know the kind of timetable you have as well as what what you want to accomplish on this project and we'll try and set a good pace for you. As great as it would be to just drop everything and work on just lighting and anatomy for a few months, clearly that's not an option, so it's important to pick your battles.

    In the mean time, if you don't already have a copy you should grab one of either Burne Hogarth or George Bridgeman's anatomy for artists. The titles vary, I think Bridgemen's is called "Constructive Anatomy", but they're pretty easy to find. There's a few polycount threads detailing all that stuff out as well if you do a search for it.

    The best I could find is someone else's rendition of a Bridgeman study, but it gets the idea across. Stuff like this will really help you to start nailing down what's important about baseline anatomy.
  • marlfox8
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    and also here's some loomis stuff you can't buy his books so now its on th webhttp://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1. personally i like bridgeman and hogarth better than loomis since i cant have the book in my hands. one bridgeman title is like drawing from life or george bridgeman's complete drawing for life. it's about 17.99 i think depending on where you live. one burne hogarth book is dynamic anatomy. i dont know the price for it. oh and, do you live in melbourne florida?
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    Wake: That would be brilliant! Yes please! I will post a production timeline and even pathway and a project brief and art style/narrative, which I wrote to speak to the look and feel of the character I am building.

    No its not an art class at all unfortunately, I am actually studying multimedia and majoring in 3D, and pretty much am teaching myself to draw and focus on the game industry standards and requirements I will need to learn. I wish we had some kind of traditional or digital art class but we dont.

    The project itself is a 3D in game LOD character...but I want to do all my own concepts, orthos, art/style and color boards textures etc The modeling/spec/AO/normal maps and sculpting is not an issueI since I can do those, or at least am getting better anyway, I just want to build as much value into my offering as possible...so that first small game studio can take the risk on me and have it pay off...know what I mean? Hence the drawing training.

    my site www.samhakem.com has some of my first ever models I've done for school...at the moment I've converted it to a Denmark Blog, because I am heading there on Aug 22nd for a scholarship I got thru Uni...!

    Anyways, yes please, I would love to be pushed at a cracking pace, yours and Jens feedback has been ace, Ive never been able to draw with that depth and proportion before! And after checking out the Bridgman studies, I know my musculature is all wrong...

    My next steps from here are to post the brief, timetable, pathway and narrative and start some bridgman studies! : )

    Thanks heaps Wake...
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    marlfox8: Hey marl, many thanks, thats a great link, I've added it and will use it right away since I dont have access to bridgman right now...I live in melbourne Australia! haha downunder mate! ; )
  • marlfox8
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    oh wow i just picked up bridgeman today. :) planning to do studies of both loomis and bridgeman. good luck
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    Just ordered Bridgman...let the studies begin!

    UPDATE: Some of my old stuff. Picked my absolute worst stuff to see some development. Just a selection of it. Such a shame I lost those old pics, would have liked to see what everyones feedback related to.

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  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    Ok so time to revive the old sketch book. Cant recall what's happened to those images I posted earlier. I must have lost them in the IP move for my site.

    ok so for uni we need to make a MOBA style star wars inspired spawn point.

    This is my progress thus far. I am no environment artist, this is my first go actually and everything here has been built at least twice as I learn to use the grid for modelling and try to keep things as modular as possible. I prefer character art honestly, but I think becoming a good (in time) environment artist is pretty important to upscaling my value to an employer.

    :poly121:

    I've got no refined gloss or metallic maps yet (In fact I have removed them completely now, I want to do them all carefully last because I am new to PBR). Am really hoping that's where I can get everything to pop.

    The cloud particle will be copied over several times to create a nice cloud cover just below the station. Can you get particles to reflect light? They are so white at the moment...I'm not sure what to do there.

    Ok folks, feels good to be back, please feel free to comment and crit.

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    This will be the final design for the central exhaust bit (Still WIP, I'm building it out today and getting it in Engine). I will turn its side panels to be able to copy it and rotate it around the central hole in the station. At the moment I am building it straight on, cause I learned the hard way anything else is diabolically difficult.

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    This "bulk Head" thing will go over the very unattractive corners of the big station itself. Creates some more visual interest I hope.

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  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    Its really character and character design thats my passion. So i have been pushing anatomy and design, drawing and painting techniques as much as I can. I found it really has helped my 3D alot.

    this is where I really want to push after this environment project is over.

    Still have a huge way to go. but thats what the rest of this Masters is for.

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    much more to come...
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
  • samhakem
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    samhakem polycounter lvl 14
    Quick lighting update.

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