Long Time...

Man, it's been awhile since I last posted. So what's happened? Well, I moved (which is partly to explain my absence,) been doing some artwork that will hopefully lead to a job, and I had to reformat my computer recently. Now that stuff has kinda settled down, I'm back on track with this again.

Here's some block studies of people that I've been doing lately. Usually if I hit a drawing funk or don't seem to be improving a whole lot I'll switch up my approach to keep it fresh. Lately my people have been loose and getting away from me, so I switched over to a method I learned in my drawing classes (I think it's derived from Glen Vilppu, but I'm not sure.) I like doing these, it's really clear and defined where the planes are and where everything in space is, but it can still be loose and energetic. Also, taking a cue from James Gurney, I used a water soluble pencil and one of my water brushes to lay down tone. I LOVE this method. I've never been a fan of smudging the pencil around, since it muddies up everything (at least when I do it), but this basically gives me the pros of smudging without the rest of the crap that goes with it. I'm still getting used to it, but it's been fun.

Also, as a sidenote, I haven't forgotten about my Creature Spotlight! Here's a sneak-peek at what's coming up. This little guy is gonna be fun to paint...

Graduation! And a Slug.

So I'm done with college! I guess it's a big step, but it hadn't really sunk in. So to comemorate the occasion (and because I'm busy with other stuff I can't show yet,) here's something I did about two weeks ago. It's a tossed Creature Spotlight concept, since I wanted to try a more centipede-like critter, but same idea. So here it is, the first version of the Lava Slug! I have no idea why this silly thing can't upload the right colors, but once I figure it out, I'll edit this post.

EDIT: Hey, I got the right colors up! Enjoy, new post will be coming soon.

Color Comps

So here is a set of color comps for some animation backgrounds I'm doing for my personal project, "The Tower Troll." The kid's head on a plaque is part of the project too, but I'm not going to spoil why! These were done in watercolor, by the way, with micron inks over 'em.

Of torsos and men...

Another day, another page in the ol' sketchbook. This one actually had me figure out something pretty interesting really. Something I honestly never gave much thought to.Rib cages tilt forward when someone leans! To be perfectly truthful, this little nougat of info HAS been in my head before, but it's one of those things when you just throw a pose out onto the paper, if your head isn't in the game, it doesn't surface.

This actually got me to thinking about a couple of little things. First, I I thought about the fact that I always start my drawings with the head. Then I kinda came to the realization that a LOT of artists do this. I know of a lot of pals who start with a gesture of the head, then find the spine and line of action through that, which lead me onto another train of though...

Burne Hogarth.

Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy or Dynamic Figure Drawing (if you ever read these books) don't actually prescribe to this following. Instead Hogarth stresses the rib cage as the first object to draw, as everything originates from there: The orientation of the head does not dictate the pose, but the orientation of the rib cage might.

While I think this is a nifty idea, I don't know how well it could actually work. The problem lies in the flow of the pose. It's far easier for me to find the LoA (Line of Action) from the head than it is from the rib cage. If the rib cage dictates the pose, don't I already have this set in stone then?

Anyway, I've just provided a look into the mad ramblings of a lone artist, so feel free to leave any thought pertaining (or not) on the comment board.

Baby Snatcher lineart

Here's a quick preview of an upcoming paint-up I'm doing. I guess it'll fall under the next creature spotlight, so all the background for it will be explained then. In the meantime, I present to you, the Babysnatcher!

Sketches!

Just a recent sketchpage.

Creature Spotlight: The Red-Billed Tuskeater!

...Or as some may call it, the blue-balled doombird. Here's our next installment in the Creature Spotlight, this time it's the predator of the Garret's Tuskrunner (hence the tuskeater name.) This reptavian lives primarily along the belt of forest/plains area that dot its planet, which gives it it's darker coloration. Males are identified with the vibrant colors lining their faces, while females have a more subdued palette. The two large, long claws on each forelimb are used for gripping prey, but also for digging out holes to form nests for their broods. Oddly enough, the cheek sacks that adorn their faces have a dual function: They're can be puffed up to appear aggressive, or they can be used to store food. Since Tuskrunner's tend to stay away from the forest or closed areas, it becomes problematic for the female tuskeater, who stays with her young until they're hatched. Evolution's solution? Equip the birds with cheeks so the male can carry back extra food from a kill. This also works out for when the Tuskeaters make long treks or migrations, since they can feed on a kill, then store any extra in their pouches and swallow it down as they continue to move.

I included in this post a version that still has the lineart, and a version without the lineart. As a shout-out to anyone that's listening, which one do you all prefer?

Sneak Peek at next Creature Spotlight...

Well, not so much a "sneak" peek, but ya get the idea. Once I finish doing the paint-up on it, I'll be showing the whole critter.

In other news, I'm cleaning up the Tower Troll and polishing him more. I'm basically going back with a rake (using a new one this time, something I fashioned outta a saw blade, ha ha!) and gonna really rake the hell outta him. I'll show pics of that once he's all done up nicely.

In other other news, I've been looking at a DS homebrew program called "colors" which is apparantly a painting program. Anyone out there use it and love it? Just curious to hear some first-hand accounts of it.

Have You Seen the Tower Troll?

Here's a sculpt I've been working on for my senior project class. He's a maquette based off the main character design in a short animation I'm doing. I'm fairly happy with him, I think if I started him a little earlier I could have worked out some of the issues and kinks I have with it a lot more. I might go back and tweak him later, once I have more time available to me.

Here's a full shot of him, and some WIPs as well.

Creature Spotlight: Garret's Tuskrunner

So I decided on doing a concept exercise for myself to just keep my imagination going and just be sure to have some sort of drawing done, and this is all based on that last post! I got the idea of choosing an ecosystem(plains, volcanoe, forest, freshwater, etc.) and each week or so, do 3 drawings, consisting of a main food source (plant or something similar), a prey animal (thing that eats food source), and a predator animal (thing that eats prey animal.) It'd start with the main food source, but since I started with that weird lil' alien earlier, I present to you...

Prey Animal: Garret's Tuskrunner!

For now here's a colored schematic of the lil' guy, and since I already threw up some sketches of him previously, you can just scroll down to see 'em. Anywho, onto a bit of fluff facts:

Garret's Tuskrunner (named for Arthur D. Garret, the astrozoologist that discovered this species) is a plain-dwelling creature that inhabits the arid planet designated DX723. Unlike most animals, its designed to graze the bushes that inhabit its world, using a swooping action with the lower jaws to scoop, pinch, and pull the leaves off of the plant. It's long legs allow it to quickly gallop away, while the bony spike protrusions on the tail aid in balance and self-defense.

So that's it for now, tune in soon for the main food source!

Monsters

Here's an old and a new monster. The first one is some demon dog that I did a quick doodle of, and the second one is...well, some alien that I did a quick doodle of. I named the second one Garret's Tuskrunner. Don't know why. I'm thinking of trying out digital painting on it, and seeing how much I actually suck at color (Hah!)

Nightly drawing

Here's a doodle from a couple nights ago. Just some drawing before I turn in for the night.

Warm up Sketch

Here's a daily warm-up I did. Did it on Alias sketchbook, which always never looks as good as my traditional drawings. The tablet just feels really slick against the pen, so I never have enough friction.

New blog! Now with 40% art!

Whoo! So I got me a blog! I used to have one in the past, buuuuttt...well, kind of didn't update it regularly, and then it just went poof one day. But no worries! I'm intending to have this blog work in conjunction with my website, so the sooner I get that up, the better. So here for your amusement is a few starter drawings to whet the appetite. See y'all soon!