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Sketchbook: Two Listen

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Edit - Update 2014: Since it's been over 3 years since I started this sketchbook I figured I'd update the original post with some information. I'm 24 years old, married, and am looking to get into the freelance concept/illustration scene...eventually. I've spent years working various day jobs while trying to work on my art, and am just now hitting a point where I feel confident enough (or rather, feel like I'm running out of time enough) to put together a portfolio. Crits and comments are always welcome, regardless of whether you're 2D or 3D, hobbyist or professional, new or veteran. I appreciate you looking regardless.

It's been months since I've posted anything (anywhere at all). I took a break from online endeavors and interactions by and large, just wanted to take some time to myself to really get back into the feeling of things.

I requested my last sketchbook be deleted so I could start fresh with my new stuff.

Here's a few sketches and my current painting project.

rhinodoodle1.jpg
1scan5.jpg
1scan6.jpg
nose_eye_1.jpg
headscan1.jpg
monstershade1.jpg
june10scan4.jpg
headsketch1.jpg

1scanwork9_jpg1.jpg

Replies

  • Two Listen
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    This isn't actual "progress", it's just me fiddling around at work to see if my ideas are viable.

    Will be recreating the symbols myself (as they're just generic google images I pulled for testing the look), still haven't touched the face/hair, hoping to add jewelry, details on the outfit such as embroidery, seams, etc - and playing with reflected light off of various things as a result of the couple lightsources going on.

    Still a long way to go. But...here's an idea of what I'm hoping to go for.

    pro_7_12_2010.jpg
  • TLishman
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    TLishman polycounter lvl 8
    Hey man, your work is really nice.
    You really grab the essance of form in your art.


    Not too sure about the last two, don't really feel it.

    Keep it up!
  • Two Listen
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    Tossed it into black and white mode, more ideas for direction at work.

    I'm still feeling weird about the arms...I like the sleeves, but something about the lighting is still making them seem very flat. I might change their position entirely, not sure.

    If anyone's got any paintover suggestions for that, feel free.

    bw2_july13_2010.jpg

    Edit: Since I don't want to bump my thread with posts not containing art if possible, just wanted to note...

    TLishman, thanks for checking in and the crits. Just for the record, these past two progress shots are not final progress of any sort. Everything other than the progress in the first post is me fooling around at work to get ideas and provide myself with a more solid image of my goal. I don't have a tablet at work, just some copy of Photoshop 6 and a rollerball mouse. I use my time at work (phone job) to do low res tests of where I'm looking to wind up, test lighting schemes, block in something (hair), etc. You could think of it like doing thumbnails, planning paintovers, etc. It's all going to be repainted and polished.

    I've just learned in the past that working always on my "final" draft without testing things tends to result in me not having the direction I need to finish it. I'll keep your crits in mind though, thanks!
  • TLishman
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    TLishman polycounter lvl 8
    The shading feels too soft and transparent. I think you should work with some more solid brushes and get some bold strokes in there. Although saying that, the face is good.

    I think the rings in the background are too sharp compared to the man, making the guy look out of focus.
  • Two Listen
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    More ideas at work. Thinking about changing up the sleeves, giving them some more "action" continuing the eventual flow of the hair. Also gives me some more visible portions of his hands/forearms to get some detail in later.

    Got the next two days off from work, so I'll finally get to jump back in with my tablet for some serious progress.

    grayscale7_14_2010.jpg
  • TLishman
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    TLishman polycounter lvl 8
    The frills are quite cool, but im not really sure about the arm posistion. Maby angled would make heem seem a bit more dynamic more than straight and orderly.
  • Two Listen
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  • wake
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    wake polycounter lvl 17
    hey Two-- your pencil illustrations are a lot of fun to look through; you can be very tight when you want to but there's also a lot of loose mark-making as well, so you have this resolved head that almost fades back into the page. But your most recent paint, the front profile wizardy guy, is falling a little flat I think (apparently working with a rollerball mouse will do that :) -- just remembered that part of your post).

    The pose isn't as interesting as a lot of your other ones, and the light source is highlighting the hair too much and not the person, and as a result is drawing one's attention away from the character. The style of dress combined with the mystico-rings are also ambiguous in a bad way-- I can't get a read on the character.

    I've got some time off tomorrow and would love to do a paintover, I'd just like to know what you want to accomplish with the character first.

    I may also snag a sketch or two to paint over while I'm at it, hehehe. (if you don't mind that is)
  • Two Listen
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    Thanks for the words Wake. That digital's still in a really early stage, I imagine if or when I finish it, almost all of it will get painted over in some fashion, I agree with most all of what you said.

    More on the last one. Hopefully some more digital soon, though I had to reformat recently and wound up losing several of my brushes, I'll have to remake those.

    septscan12.jpg
  • wi_2
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    wi_2 polycounter lvl 10
    great form shaping here:).. and love that bird..
    Study some life to gain more control and suck up that visual music...
    Good stuff here!
  • Two Listen
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    Thanks mate.

    Here's a couple sketches and a quick enviro painting. Got my tablet set back up, good to do some digital again.

    septscan14.jpg
    septscan15.jpg

    env1.jpg
  • gibson543
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    gibson543 polycounter lvl 13
    bro this stuff is amazing, do you use a blending stump for any of the pencil drawings?
  • Two Listen
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    Been awhile since I've updated anything. Been trying not to focus so much on updating stuff online, just trying to get my head geared a little more towards art.

    Gibson - thanks, and nope I don't use a blending stick for any of my drawings. Never really liked them truth be told.

    Small update for the sake of it, of that painting in post #6. Went back to it after...4 months, here's its current progress. Hoping to get this one finished before the new year as kind of a mark.

    floatyman1.jpg
  • Two Listen
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    Wasn't able to finish it up before the new year, wound up burning 3 of my fingers a few days prior which set me back a bit, but it's no worries. I want to keep pushing this one and try and get a nice portfolio piece out of it here soon.

    Testing out some colors - still not finished, need to figure out what I'm going to do with the background and get some more rendering done on the hands/feet/hair, but it's always good to get an idea of where I'm headed:

    scan9testjpg.jpg
  • Two Listen
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    Alright, if I could get a little feedback on this I've got a question for anyone interested. I felt tonight like his waist region was missing something, and I though possibly a belt (or belts) for holding some sort of scabbard(s) for his weapons...? Not sure, but I felt like it needed something to break up what was otherwise the single large shape that was the majority of his coat thing.

    Below are two quick ideas, one with a couple belts utilizing that last clasp as support - and another with some possible straps (and likely scabbards in the eventuality) coming from the clasps themselves. Any tips on which looks better? Or did it look alright in the last post with nothing waist-wise at all?

    scan9belts.jpg
    scan9belts2.jpg
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    definitely the first one.

    his head is looking quite large for the body, which is making his arms look short, and his legs even shorter.

    i liked the color version! looks like you're shading with black too much, though.

    your sketchbook is a nice steady progression. keep it up.
  • Two Listen
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    Thanks for the quick reply Ian! I'll go ahead with the double "crossing" belts then in the first example. That's the one I was leaning towards, I think a little more work could get it looking pretty reasonably neat.

    Concerning the proportions, as of right now he's roughly 7 & 1/2 "heads" tall (he's almost 8 if you count all of his feet but since he's not standing with his feet flat I didn't). I'm giving myself a little bit of leeway because I sort of envisioned his legs to be pulled back a little bit and so I figured small perspective things + people just not all being text book perfect made it alright. And I do want his face to pull a good bit of focus.

    Here's a quick skeleton overlay:

    skellyoverlay.jpg

    Looking at that, it does seem like I could afford to probably widen his hips (or at least make it more noticeable where his hips are exactly) - as well as elongate his legs. Luckily I haven't dived into much if any detail on his legs so that'll be a piece of cake. :thumbup:

    Thanks for the feedback, and I'll be sure in the final coloring to try and avoid the dark blacks - particularly on the edges of his torso if I can as I think that's where it's hurting me most. If I can't get it looking right by simply lightening it up I'll try to toss some color into the shadows to help.
  • Lyper
    Amazing work you have made there, I love your style:thumbup:
  • Two Listen
  • vofff
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    vofff polycounter lvl 10
    he reminds me of edward the scissor. Cool paint though:)
  • Mike Yevin
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    Mike Yevin polycounter lvl 11
    the hair on that fella is straight up awesome, nice work. i love your value sketches, ive been wanting to get some off white paper to sketch in both shadow and highlight but i have too many other things id like to fool around with. keep it up
  • Fred2303
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    Fred2303 polycounter lvl 7
    really cool drawings! the first dude on the post #9 is my favorite
  • Two Listen
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    Oh snap, nobody's supposed to post in this thread until I get some recent stuff up. Guess I'll update this with some odds and ends I've put up in other threads to bring us halfway up to date, haha.

    sept18_2011_p2.jpg
    milit_finished-1.png
    march2012_003.png
    feb2012sketch002.png
    feb2012sketch002_work.png
    feb2012sketch003.png
    feb2012sketch006.png
    feb2012sketch007_work.png
    march2012_001.png
    march2012_002.png
    march2012_004.png
    march2012_006.png
    march2012_005.png
    march2012_007.png

    Current WIP:

    march2012_007_p1.png

    Thanks for taking the time and stopping by. :)
  • Two Listen
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    Small crosspost from sketch thread. I would like to update more often, but damned if I'm not running into all sorts of issues. I've gotten to a point where I feel like I'm finally starting to get pretty comfortable and consistent sketching. Transforming those sketches into passable paintings, however, is graying my hairs.

    Keep telling myself to just let loose and keep working at it. I feel like if I can paint with the same feeling and lack of worry I've got while sketching, I might actually be able to get up a portfolio one of these days.

    apr2012_001_sketch.png

    apr2012_001_p1.png
  • Two Listen
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    Going to go ahead with the whole posting "without worry or intent" thing for this section and put this here. Think I'd actually like to finish this one from above. I remember Konstruct telling me in the past to throw some secondary light sources in there, and it occurred to me that I still don't really do that. Not a huge update, but had some things I'd wanted to fiddle with.

    apr2012_001_p2.png
  • TehSplatt
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    TehSplatt polycounter lvl 11
    Loving your latest stuff especially that goblin thing haha Good work :D
  • Caspar
    Great colours, lightning and characters! How about some more envos? :)
  • Two Listen
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    Thanks to both of you. Caspar I'm sure I'll be going back to environments at some point. Lately though I've been struggling just to get anything down on paper so I sort of take what I can get, haha.

    Went through my sketchbooks and scanned in a few things. Most of it from this past week but a couple things are from a fair while ago I couldn't remember having scanned in. In the past I wouldn't have bothered posting stuff like this and this alone, but what the hell, right?

    listen_May2012_001.jpg
    listen_May2012_010.jpg
    listen_May2012_011.jpg
    listen_May2012_008.jpg
    listen_May2012_002.jpg
    listen_May2012_009.jpg
    listen_May2012_007.jpg
    listen_May2012_006.jpg
    listen_May2012_005.jpg
    listen_May2012_004.jpg
  • Rigoberto1
  • Two Listen
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    Rigoberto1 wrote: »
    agreewww.cleaningcassette.com

    ...did you just spam my sketchbook thread? You just spammed my sketchbook thread!

    ...so that my thread isn't sitting here bumped by spam.

    listen_May2012_013.jpg
    listen_May2012_012.jpg
  • Daven
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    Daven greentooth
    mmm, delicious spam. You sketches are great, but I feel like they could definitely benefit from some differing line weight. Love your stuff.
  • Two Listen
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    Thanks for the comment suburbbum! I actually don't put any thought into line weight or go for very much refinement/detail in my sketches. At the moment anyway, they're only there to give my brain a starting point. In the event a sketch makes it to the painting stage, most of the lines will either be painted over or left only to add rough details and various marks to help "build up" a painting. ...or something. :)

    I really wish I knew what I was doing.

    May2012_013_p1.png

    (If I take this one any further, I'll be sure to do something about his fucked up limb proportions...particularly the arms.)
  • Add3r
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    Add3r polycounter lvl 11
    I absolutely love your work. Definitely in my top favorite sketchbooks (and artists in general) on this forum. With ease. Your sketches flow amazingly, and I feel so inspired to draw after looking through your work. Thanks for posting your work, I really enjoy the black on white doodles above on this page. Amazing stuff man, awesome job!
  • kevlar jens
    Ooo lots of twisted cool work here!

    Your sketches are awesome, and so are your painting- especially that samurai cowboy.

    Keep it up :)
  • Two Listen
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    Add3r - I'm pretty darn certain I'm not deserving of those compliments, but I'm glad to hear you enjoy my stuff!

    kevlar - Thanks bud, will do.


    Here's some newer stuff, most of it already seen in the P&P sketch thread. It's largely charcoal powder and water, a medium that is far outside my area of comfort and understanding. I'm hoping it'll give me some ideas on other ways to start and plan an image, something I currently suck at.

    aug_2012_oldman.png
    sept_2012_001.png
    sept_2012_003.png
    sept_2012_002.png
    sept_2012_004_sketch_zps903b6d0a.png
    sept_2012_004_p1_zps2d45d461.png
  • Joseph Silverman
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    Joseph Silverman polycounter lvl 17
    I like these man!! The last two charcoal ones have a ton of energy. Hit me up on msn again sometime.
  • Two Listen
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    Thanks Joseph, the charcoal powder definitely helps give things some unexpected motion and energy, it's one reason I find it so fun and interesting.

    Here's today's sketch. Not the start of a painting, just trying to flesh out a design so I don't wind up halfway through a painting and not have any idea what something is going to look like (like...usual). Lots and lots of practice with the early stages of things, lately. Kind of exciting to try so many new things.

    sept_2012_006_p1.png

    It occurs to me that the hat pretty distinctly resembles an ear of corn. Oh god.
  • Two Listen
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    Blargh. Sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out for this, cloth is haaaaaaaaarrrd.

    May2012_013_p2.png
  • Two Listen
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    I've been trying hard to take the looseness and relaxed mindset I have with pencil or charcoal powder, and pushing to try and do digital stuff with that same mentality.

    Here's a very early-stage thing, the original sketch and a color test. Again, trying to plan an image.

    larkspur_sketch1.jpg
    larkspur_p1.png

    And here's the environment I started after I did the above. I liked the foundation the above steps gave me, and wanted to try something similar, but also a little different.

    Current progress:

    night2_p2.png

    And a quick gif to keep track of my progress as I move forward with it.

    night2_p_gif1.gif
  • Two Listen
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    Been trying to plug away with this one best I can. May have to go back and tweak the colors/contrast once I actually get this setup calibrated, but I think I'm ready to call it finished for now.

    night2_p3.png

    And an update on the gif.

    night2_p_gif2.gif
  • Jenker
    I Really like that Landscape you did!
  • Two Listen
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    Thanks Jenker! :thumbup:

    Here are some things, crossposted from the sketch thread.

    Jan_2013_006.png

    Jan_2013_007.png

    Jan_2013_003.png

    Jan_2013_005_p1.png

    And another posting of my art jam participation, with a quick process gif. Would have liked to spend a little more time on it but didn't want to eat in to this week's Ghibli theme. Tried to implement parts of Emily's original design, but grow them up a bit, I guess. Mostly I just really liked the Sokolov paintings you could find in the game and wanted to try one myself.

    BnsB5pz.jpg

    E_Kaldwin_s2.png

    2r6OgMF.gif

    Thanks for looking. :)
  • LongJh
    Man, great stuff! Looking at all these works just makes me want to work harder to reach all the standards everyone else sets. I really like your pencils, the white highlights really give a great effect! Thanks for the inspiration top-up. Hope you'll post more stuff!
  • Two Listen
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    Thank you for having a look LongJh, I appreciate it. Your sketchbook currently offers a lot more to look at, though. :)

    Here's some recent tomfoolery.

    IMs2nYW.jpg
    NNkf0bN.jpg
    t8CN68F.jpg
    cSgbAWz.jpg

    Painted the last one.

    4H0bhgj.png

    Crits and comments always welcome, cheers to all for now.
  • Sam Hatami
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    Sam Hatami polycounter lvl 16
    My god, such nice color contrast in the last one :)
  • Two Listen
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    Thanks Sam. :)

    Trying a couple different directions with two of the previous sketches. Officially out of paper, so stuck in digital for a day or two.

    aruyAJG.jpg

    xynbZIk.jpg
  • Two Listen
  • Two Listen
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    Here's a grayscale version of my current WIP. I'm hoping this turns out well so I can get a portfolio piece of out it, but I'm encountering a variety of issues with parts.

    UDWDTjw.png

    zsB0k03.jpg
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