Flo's sketchbook

[atrenr]

It looks much better, Flo. The right side is reading much more clearly as to what it is now.
I also like the bird archer, very nice color scheme.

[kidult]

Hey flo now that you have that bush and hill in front of the tree you can keep it the same colours as the other. No real need to add atmospheric perspective. And cool designs for the other characters!

[Flo]

hey everybody,
@kidult: thanks mate, i am quite new to character design, so thanks for the encouraging words. you are right with the bush, i will change it :)
@ terran: thanks a lot too :)
i finally found a good introduction to gesture drawing, which is something, some people would say, doesn't need an introduction. but it helped me a lot so i post it here:
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/quick-pose-gesture-sketching/

i am sure everybody knows ctrl+paint, but for everyone, who doesn't, it is really cool, so check it out. there is a lot of well presented information and tips for conceptartists and illustrators.

so some gesture drawings to warm up. i made myself a grid and just added a new layer when it is full. i basicly do stick-figures, concentrating on the head, the shoulderline, the spine, the hip-line and the angles of arms and legs. everything else is added after that, at least most of the time.




and a study of a diablo3-enemy-concept that i really like. i didnt start it today, but today i spent a lot of time painting it.


also for those who are interested in how i study (which is also something, that is not really talked about much, i guess), i added my "study-page" with the notes i made. that way i don't "just" copy the image but really try to learn something from it. it really helped me, and maybe someone finds it useful out there.



edit: i made another level-concept. i made this one fairly quick and it shows. it seems, that the basics are not in my blood yet, because i didn't think a lot about this one. it will be enough for our 3D guys, which is "okay" i guess. maybe i should do more speedpaintings, although i don't think speed-painting is a good idea, if one doesn't know what one is doing.



cheers,
flo

[Flo]

i worked on a boardgame i have to do graphical redesign for, so there is not much to show today. but it is good to finally take some time for this thing, i have to be done with it in january and i am afraid i have to use indesign X_x
just some gestures and now i will do something for my bird character, so maybe i update later again.

cheers,
flo

[Flo]

hey everybody,

a sketch and some more work for the bird-archer

cheers,
flo

[Flo]

2 concepts for the game, a half-assed tank study that turned into a half-assed tank-design :( and a gargoyle (still wip)










cheers,
Flo

[Flo]

update

[Flo]

some anatomy studies from the ebook "shortcut to figure drawing", a fotostudy and a character.

cheers,
Flo

[Flo]

more work on the goblin and some studies and a skeleton knight sketch
i still don't have a real workflow for this. i hope i can add the arms later easily.

cheers,
flo

[iCi]

Whoa, nice improvements, even nicer hard work.
Those lines must floooowwwww :)

[Flo]

hey ici,
thanks man :)
how can i make my lines floooowwwww more? :)

cheers,
flo

[iCi]

For example, look how Feng does his linework. His line has acceleration (years of hard work, but still the direction a good drawer should take) and the 'flow' I mentioned. His construction (early phase) lines are fast, drawn with the movement that comes from the elbow rather then from the wrist. He is using quick movements to capture the proportions and the relations of the elements. That's how the finer linework on top of that has the energy a line drawing should have. It literally flows.
You should try and free your movement, but still stay accurate. It is energy consuming, but it pays off. Try to hit that line all the way, not to chop it (especially when doing curves). Basically- longer, more courageous lines. Remember - not just no-brain copying, but understanding as well. You(I mean not just you- me , everybody) need to train your brain to resolve those situations.

Petar Meseldzija does a great job doing just that. Here you can see his unfinished sketches with early phase of drawing parts... notice how the initial lines flow? They are not not choppy. Never chop your lines. If you have crappy tablet like i do, practice line drawings on paper with HB-3B pencils or felt tip marker 0.3

http://www.petarmeseldzijaart.com/index....&buttons=0
http://www.petarmeseldzijaart.com/index....&buttons=0
http://www.petarmeseldzijaart.com/index....&Itemid=55

Also, there is this Peter Han's sample video somebody shouted some time ago here that addresses that issue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgDNDOKnArk&feature=plcp

I hope this clears it up for you, you have a good eye, keep fighting a good fight!

[Flo]

a quick mole-study
thanks a lot for the encouraging words and crits, ivan! i will look into the mentioned sourcematerial asap

cheers,
flo

[Flo]

some anatomy studies and some character work for the game project
those sketches by Petar Meseldzija are awesome. they somewhat remind me of pkmike's sketches ;)
i will try to get more fluid lines and to remind me to do it. with pencil i don't have that much of a problem doing it, but with my wacom it is harder. i have the intous 4 which is a bit slippery. i already taped some baking-paper over the drawing-area, but that interferred with my pen. i drew some more today before i went into painting.
cheers,
flo

[Flo]

a step by step study of a mandrill and a character for the game.

cheers,
flo

[Flo]

steve o and a character portrait.
i still have to wrap my head around rendering, light and perspective.

cheers,
flo

[gdsworld]

Hey Flo, thank for sharing your study sheet on the Diablo character. This is something everyone should start sharing in my opinion because it shows how we can benefit from our studies.
You have a cool sketchbook. Keep it up bro!

[Flo]

hey gdsworld,

thanks a lot man, i totally agree with you. i feel like i haven't had much information on how to study stuff so i did some copies of images. that is also a good practice in my opinion, because it teaches a lot about surfaces. but lately i found that i really helps for me to phrase sentences and words in my head about the stuff i study in order to really understand the stuff i am studying.
but then again, that's just my way to do stuff. if it helps someone that's great :)

also here is a tree dude. feel like everybody should have one in their sketchbook D: 1 pic is from yesterday other one from now.

and a study of my own hairy hand/arm

cheers,
flo

[Flo]

Hey everybody,
good new year to you, I hope everyone has made their deathline. I personally made it, because my goal was to get an overview over the fundamentals and build a portfolio to give to companies. this worked for me because of so much support from the community here.

i am now in an internship doing illustrations for videos for schoolkids. This is pretty exciting for me and i feel like working on the fundamentals and getting to know the workflow "sketch - study - apply" helps me in my daily workflow.

on the down-side, i don't have the time anymore to study the amount i want to, which feels a bit like i am stagnating, and i have to figure that out. other than that, i feel pretty good with how everything turned out right now, especially because it feels like i made it happen all by my own effort and work. but i couldn't have done it without Crimson Daggers, because it helped me sooo much in the beginning of this journey. so thanks to the creators and the community.

the pencil-drawing started as a study of this guy: http://www.bigbluetree.com/item.cfm?id=6...tart_row=1 but then went its own way.
and a quick ghost ectoplasma dude, or something along that line.

cheers,
flo

[Flo]

hey everybody,

finally I took some time to update. I feel weirdly bad about slacking on the updates and I have the need to apologize for not seeming to into studies and working. but I do studies on my internship and it really helps me. the sparrow is an example of that.
most of the time i don't take the time to bring it to a really polished state. on the sparrow i spent about 40 min.

The company i work at produces learning-videos for school kids. last week at the 23.Jan. the mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit visited our company on a promotional tour to 4 start-ups. me and another illustrator worked on pictures that were used for a learn-video about Berlin, for which he spoke the text. his visit made it into the news and some of my illustrations can be seen here:

http://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/rbm/videos/130123.html @ 3:34 where he stands in front of a tv.
i made the buildings and his portrait, my coworker made the maps. sorry it is in German :)

this is really cool for me, my father said I should definitely put it on my site. so here it is. unfortunately I can't show most of my work and the stuff from my personal projects is a) not very much b) this sounds silly but some is just secret now. I think I will show some more stuff in the future.

I really feel that the spirit from CD put me where I am now and this feels really great. after working on my skillset in 2012 I already have some positive feedback in 2013.

so I hope everybody is well and working/studiing/enjoing making art.

cheers,
Flo
:heart: