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Mario Manzanares' art & stuff

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mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
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Hola a todo el mundo!

My name is Mario and I like to populate the internet with all the stuff I draw. Even though I post my work in more places that I'm able to track, I didn't have my own thread at Polycount because I used to post just my 3D stuff over here. Cry no more, 'cause I'm here to end this non-sense.

So, what's this thread for?
  • Showcase my 2D work (finished pieces, studies, sketches, just random things...)
  • Receive feedback and comments. Overpaints are allowed! (and appreciated!)
  • Discuss about illustration, concept art, maybe make some friends?
  • Learn and improve!
  • That also includes English! Don't laugh too much if I write weird things, but please correct me! :).

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  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    If you are an artist, it won't take you by surprise if I say I have a lot of art blocks and sometimes I struggle with lack of confidence in my work. The following drawings are the highlights of my last 6 months, and today I can say I'm happy with the way things are going on, but trust me, this pictures hide a looooot of trials and errors.



    Sushi Summer. A drawing is not perfect when it's flawless. It's perfect when you have fun drawing it from start to finish. And this was so much fun.

    tumblr_n8uu2hxe0K1qkgy0bo1_1280.jpg



    Sansa from GoT. This is from August, and at this point I was obsessed with cleaning and polishing every surface and line in my drawings. I'm very happy with this style, but It was very time consuming and the drawings were a little bit stiff. I guess my experience working for casual gaming makes me feel like my drawings should be more "vector", even though I hate to vectorize things.

    tumblr_nanokz1GHl1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg



    Moar flats. I guess it´s a cool style if you are trying to get a cartoon/casual feeling.

    tumblr_ne0fg3Jc5V1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg



    Old man experiment. Art experiments are the way to avoid art blocks, or at least, getting over them. At this point I wanted to keep my clean-flat surfaces but evolve them into something more loose.

    tumblr_nd8jl0zFFO1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg



    Halloween' 14. I did this one trying to polish every surface like I did with Sansa, but at a certain point I felt like "cleaning" it too much was killing the freshness of the picture. I guess the more you polish, the more stiff it gets, so I stopped and realized that maybe it's ok to have some "unfinished" parts in a drawing :)

    tumblr_ne9h97losq1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg



    Moar fanart, this one is Blackwall, from Dragon Age: Inquisition. Yes, I have a crush on him. Yes, he's my husband in the game. And yes, this is kind of Bara. No regrets.

    tumblr_nh7nfiXiK41r3swc3o1_1280.jpg



    Interpretation of a set of pictures. I see this drawing as a milestone, because it mixes all the things I'm struggling with just the way I like it: Clean surfaces, unfinished parts, textures, expression, movement... This interpretation comes from this beautiful collection.

    tumblr_nhf01prfOj1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg



    Study. First 2015 drawing, yay!

    tumblr_nhis9mwXJi1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg



    Mason (fan art from snowpiercer). I've been experimenting with "oily"-textured brushes recently, trying to embrace my natural "dirty" approach when I have to envision my illustrations. Even though I would like to have a cleaner style, I get better results when I don't mind about polishing surfaces or detailing edges. This took around 4h.

    tumblr_nhk5iso3ph1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg

    More to come!
  • vguerra
    nice style and bruhes
  • vguerra
  • darkmag07
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    darkmag07 polycounter lvl 12
    I loved your work on the VG Remix contest. I look forward to following your thread!
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    Thanks guys!

    vguerra: I'm from Spain
    darkmag07: Thanks! That's a good memory! :)

    I'm currently working on a character design for my portfolio. This are the thumbnail explorations I did so far. Any inputs? :)

    uHUFB0G.jpg
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    Far right black and white is good.

    You are already kicking ass with this, so keep going.

    Just to make sure I'm reading it right.

    Old rich cranky aristocrat, Kind of arrogant, but very smart and probably has some blunt but good advice?
  • Hofsta
    Hey, awesome work man. I really love your color usage in all these pieces. I also dig the painterly line quality in that boxer piece.

    as for your current project...I really like the middle 2, both for color and design. I think the grey and gold one could be really awesome if you introduced some slightly cooler greys/desaturated blues into it to contrast more with the cloth of gold cape.

    looking forward to seeing this character completed. Keep up the stellar work man
    !
  • LReisis
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    LReisis polycounter lvl 6
    This is great, thank for joining this community, your work is really inspiring and awesome!
    Espero aprender de tu estilo e ilustraciones!! Much
  • vguerra
    tenemos que estar en contacto vecino xD
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    Muzz: Nailed it!
    Hofsta: Thanks! I love golden+grey too, but at the end I decided to go a little bit red instead of blue. I'll try to introduce some blue cooler colors in order to contrast, though.
    LReisis: Thanks man ;)
    vguerra: Claro!

    Some progress on the old woman! I made some grey variations to test every possibility I had in mind, and in the end I putted together my favorite parts into a final grisaille. It changed a bit during the coloring part, though.

    Ta8wH32.jpg

    Speaking about color, I think gold + red + white were the best scheme, but I tried to desaturate the gold because all the fashion references I'm using have beautiful pale gold surfaces. I don't want Cleopatra but something more... elegant?

    The following picture is NOT FINISHED but a WIP update to gather some feedback before calling it done, because I want this to be a portfolio piece, so c'mon guys and gals, speak up you minds! ;)

    For instance, there's a few parts of the clothing that I want to fix, and the style of the foxes and the lady is slightly different so I want to make her more painterly.

    pGWpzWi.jpg

    Thanks!
  • ayoub44
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    ayoub44 polycounter lvl 10
    wow , amazing work . great brush work on the last one
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    It's looking good man.

    Just some feedback

    *Feet look wonky, get some actual heels reference.
    *Boobs are too low for such a strong push up bra. Also boobs are out of perspective, raise her left boob.
    enhanced-3168-1421162398-1.png

    *I feel like you could really benefit from some serious fold and cloth studies. Cloth doesn't bend and flex like you have it, and i think it would really help sell the character.
    http://www.mightyartdemos.com/mightyartdemos-bradley.html


  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    Muzz: Thanks man! Awesome feedback, nice reference and I'll study those folds for sure! Indeed, I never realize my folds could be so bad... until you said it, haha. Thanks!

    On another note... I completely updated my portfolio!!

    XMypXUf.png

    I'm thinking about getting an in-house work instead of the freelancing, since I feel it fits better with me and my goals. What do you think about the website? Is there something you would change? Something you would add? Once more, feedback and comments are welcome and encouraged!
  • Blaisoid
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    Blaisoid polycounter lvl 7
    Lots of great stuff here :)
  • cstlmode
    sweet stuff really :D , keep it up
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    tumblr_njrcy1j5sb1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg

    After some job interviews I realized my weakest point is environmental design, so my main goal now is to improve that aspect and generate a bunch of good landscapes and environments to add to my portfolio.

    What do you think about this one? :)

    PS: If you want to imporve your enviromental skills too, there's nothing better than Eytan Zana and Kalen Chock's tutorials
  • BagelHero
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    BagelHero interpolator
    Love love love the bara-esque guy , the gangster girl and the foxes on the older lady piece are absolutely stand-out! Fun pieces all around, really.

    This newest environment is also super lovely. I'm a huge fan of the colors.
  • Dilanka
    These are great! Love your colors and design. I need to see more!
  • JamesArk
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    JamesArk polycounter lvl 10
    Dat colour palette :thumbup:

    More environments please. :)
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    BagelHero: Bara-esque sounds like a work I'm going to start using a lot to define my work, haha. Thanks!

    Dilanka: & JamesArk : Thanks for the kind words!

    I've been practicing likeness lately because I really want to be able to draw recognizable characters, even if I don't "copy" from a single picture but a bunch of them. I'm starting to understand that likeness is all about essence, not realism or measurement.
    These are William Morris and Bjork. Can you recognize them? :)

    tumblr_nk2vhdmJ3U1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg

    CLiZVit.jpg
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    tumblr_nka83tcX9K1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg

    Kneel to Krinja! Sith master of the light whip!
    [Soundtrack: http://youtu.be/iQPWjtqWYyk]

    *This is my entry for the Star Wars CDChallenge: http://on.fb.me/1DQLxus*

    Born in a planet of slaves and raised around the sound of the flesh being punished, Krinja freed her people the day she stopped a whip just with her force. Not a lot of girls can say they led a rebellion at the age of 12.

    After that, she was trained by the Jedi to become one of them, but her heart full of hate was always attracted by the dark forces. One night, she fled and all that it’s known since then is that she ended becoming a Sith master.

    Her unique style of fighting makes a light saber a very stiff weapon for her, so she ended up contracting (kidnapping really) some engineers to develop an deadly light whip for her.

    Hope you like this very geek design!

    Some process:

    nkS5KL6.jpg

    RKhyEM3.gif
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    tumblr_nkt1s7rqgl1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg

    Noahbradley's #21days sounds like a great idea to practice even a little more!

    It’s time to try new things, make better mistakes and have some fun.
    This first drawing was made after one frame from Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac. Very, very loosely.
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    tumblr_nlw3de4bj81r3swc3o1_1280.jpg

    I think I'm starting to feel satisfied with the way I render things. Yeah, probably.
    I could use some feedback in that regard, though :)
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    What sort of direction do you want to go in?

    I feel like i want to see you go finer with your forms and get more variance to it all. I guess things feel like they were kind of drawn with conte crayon in a way. The obvious reference i would recommend paying more attention to is leyendecker. With how he uses lighting, and the scale of his details and lines.

    Not sure if that helps or not!
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    Hey Muzz, thank you for your words. I think I've been searching for my own voice for a long time and when I read "things feel like they were kind of drawn with conte crayon in a way" it resonates so much with how I visualice things in my head. I mean, my main struggle now is how I draw what I visualice in an efficient way, and that kind of "conte crayon" texture is definitelly and important point for me. Leyendecker is one of my inspirations, of course, and I think I should study him more, especially now after your comments. Thanks again.

    I am crafting more work in this vein and I'm happy to say that I'm very satisfied with the next one, which is something key to me because I'm in a phase when the important thing is to achieve satisfaction and learn how to enjoy my vocation, if that makes sense.

    tumblr_nn807mFetu1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg

    Feedback is encouraged and appreciated, as always!
  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    Mario, stop being awesome. You stop that right now!

    Love your stuff, man!
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    **Makkon you making me blush**

    c7c14974-401f-43ba-95a7-e90a6fd7f32e.gif

    Ok, next piece continuing the Gypsian theme/collection! I'm trying to give further step from the "plain portrait" stuff I usually do :)

    tumblr_nnklq4nuSh1r3swc3o1_1280.jpg

    HD: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rebeca-the-gypsian
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    Wow! It's been a year since my last post! Hello again! How have you been?

    I feel like I've improved A LOT in the last months, and that's thanks to my incredible colleagues and friends, who are always willing to give me good advice and feedback on my drawings. It's just invaluable how good is to have a different point of view on your work to grow as an artist. And that's why I'm coming back to this beautiful community! I'll be showing my last works over this week, so stay tuned!

    First, let me introduce you The Guano Kings, a crew of riders always looking for trouble! Güilly and Güendolin are brother and sister, descendants from a lineage of atrophied bats, dwellers of the underground mines. Do not mention inbreeding in front of them.




    What do you think? I think there's a noticeable improvement since my last posts, tight? I'm so happy.
    Well, all the comments and feedback are very much appreciated!
    Cheers!

  • Greg Westphal
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    Greg Westphal polycounter lvl 9
    Yeah, your edge control is getting a lot better and you're high lights are reading a lot sharper.  Its giving it a much more refined look.
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    @Greg Westphal  Thank you! It means a lot you are noticing it :) 

    Now is time for a piece I started in 2013 but never finished. At that point, I felt like I didn't have the skills to take this to the level I wanted to achieve. Now that I feel more confident with my rendering and with a lot of feedback from friends an colleagues, I finished this swamp witch and I'm very happy with the result. There's a lot of room to improve yet, so feedback is very appreciated. Hope you like it :)"Even though the origin of this creature is uncertain, most scholars agree she might be the wandering spirit of an ancient witch called Ophylias, repudiated by many for her unfortunate practice of black magic. Eventually drowned in a swamp by an enraged lynch mob, her spirit still dwells the waters and attracts young ladies in order to use their juvenile flesh as a new vessel to finally get her cold, wet revenge. This is why maidens are forbidden to enter the swamp."

    High resolution: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/kZRn2

  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5

    I tend to find inspiration in the sneak peeks of the lives that random people share on the internet. This is a semi-stylized study that became a more complex piece. It was started in 2013 after I saw this picture, but I didn't feel confident enough to finish it until last week: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bohemea/15895624263/

    I learned a lot about depicting subtleties, water and the female body. There's a lot of room for improvement yet, so I'll appreciate your comments and feedback on this!

  • Greg Westphal
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    Greg Westphal polycounter lvl 9
    This is so fantastic man.  I love the styalization you chose to do this in.  Reminds me really heavily of the last turn of the century artist.  I know you asked for a critique but the parts that don't match the photo, like how the dress is even more transparent, I feel were intentional on your part.  The only 2 places I could maybe point out is the tub on the left side the shadows transitions look a bit choppy and the ao around the hand touching the wall is a bit light for the rest of the piece and in comparison to the photo it doesn't match.  I love this piece though man and I honestly can't come close to this so don't think i'm pointing this out to put you down, I'd just love to see you get even better.
  • mariomanzanares
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    mariomanzanares polycounter lvl 5
    @Greg Westphal
    Thank a lot Greg! Those are very encouraging words :) It's true that I didn't wanted to stick 100% to the original ref and there's a few "stylized" parts. It's great you can notice that. Again, thanks for the kind words!

    Continuing with the "dark fantasy" project, here you have a frog lineup I designed to live in the swamp:


    High def: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/AvYry

    "Peculiar events occurred when the witch Ophylias dwelled the swamp. Fishermen were the first to report abnormally sized animals like frogs, snails and dragonflies.

    Of course, spooky events are always denied by the conservative folks, but it is difficult to keep looking the other way when, on a rainy night, you find a human-sized frog digging up bones in the village's graveyard."

    Hope you like them! Like with Ophylias (two posts ago) I started this design almost 2 years ago, but never felt confident enough to finish it until last week. I'm very happy with the result, and I think I have "evolved" a lot since the first iteration:


  • disarmwithasmile
    Hey! Where do you get your art inspiration from?
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