Craig's Sketchbook - Printable Version

Craig's Sketchbook - Printable Version

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RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Craig Paton - 08-19-2014

Cheers, Jaik. Yeah, I think you maybe caught be out being a bit lazy with that tattoo girl portrait, I should have noticed those mistakes and fixed them before calling it done.

Here some wips and thumbnails for the Crimson CHOW. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.

[Image: aGJbHDY.jpg]

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Adrian - 08-19-2014

Awesome :U

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Craig Paton - 08-22-2014

Thanks Adrian. :)

Here's another portrait, continuing to focus on edges, values and skin textures.
[Image: gk3rtd1.jpg]

Also been working a wee bit on working straight into colour. I struggle with working right into colour without doing a grey scale value drawing first.
[Image: nyfAHo1.jpg]

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - rafa zanchetin - 08-22-2014

That portrait is gorgeous, maybe you could try to do something as starters for color by applying a color layer above it so you can get a grasp?

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Suira - 08-22-2014

Cool stuff man, nice to see you're working your ass off! :)

I really like the CHOW ideation, it's a really fresh twist from the initial draft. The idea of english gentlemen-psychos getting together to cut each other is really cool, kinda fight club gore version hehe.

The B/W portrait is vey nice, I recognized the actress right away ( I don't remember her name though) so your accuracy is really nice. I only have a couple crits about it. First, would be to use a darker background, that way the midtones you're using to define most of her will pop a lot more and the image will feel less dull in contrast. Second, maybe take a more graphic approach with the hair ( this is more personal taste I guess), I feel that using some chalk brush or something like that in a loose yet precise way would give the hair a more dynamic feel. And this could extent to using a similar brush in the "turning" areas of the form, to give hints of texture, that would introduce a more porous type of deal and add interest. I still like it, and I'm awfully aware of how hard is to pull off what you already did, but it never hurts to give some feedback :)

On the color practices I have two suggestions:

a) Still Life, a boring, annoying exercise, that is awfully taxing on patience but teaches a lot about color and specially methodology regarding it.

b) If you feel intimidated by color, as I do, try to ignore the levels of saturation on the colors you see for a while, pick just 2 or 3 hues, and work in the spectrum of saturation that's closer to grey, as if you were working on B/W, it will feel like you're basically doing just that, and even if you don't delve too deep into hues and tones, it teaches you how important desaturated color is in the picture, after that it's just a matter of an overlay layer to bost saturation in very specific areas.

Hope it helps man, keep up the cool work! ;)

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Craig Paton - 08-31-2014

Cheers for the advice guys, will get back to my colour studies now that the Chow is done (for this week), spent an embarrassingly long time on this one.

Certainly getting into doing some still life studies seems like it'd be good way to build my colour confidence. I'll get on that, try and do a series of colour based still lives.

Took your advice, Suira, with this CHOW and tried to draw the guy 'too tall', as you suggested, to try and prevent him from looking too squat and short. I think it's paid off.

The current reigning Crimson Dagger.
The Crimson Daggers are the elite few who survive enough bouts in the Fine Gentlemen's Knife Fight Club to become champion.

The first rule of Fine Gentlemen's Knife Fight Club is; Remember to bring a knife.

[Image: PdYA9h5.jpg]

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Suira - 08-31-2014

Great stuff craig, you really hooked up a cool concept and a very compelling design, keep u the great work man!

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Lyraina - 09-04-2014

Haha, your Crimson Dagger still creeps me out, every single time I look at him. Great job ;)

If you struggle at working in colors without doing values first, maybe making a habit of turning your painting to black&white regularly might help? That way you kind of get the best of both worlds, working in color yet seeing the values. The most convenient way to do so is with the proof setup that has been going around lately: http://www.artofscholes.com/checkingvalues/ - you can even continue painting while seeing your image in values, although you obviously don't see if your colors are still accurate.

Love the b/w porrtait above, the eyes are intriguing.

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Craig Paton - 09-04-2014

Cheers guys.

Really enjoyed working on the Chow, looking forward to the next one. :D

@Lyraina - Thanks for that link. I'll have a go at some colour studies with that, and see how I get on.

Did a cover illustration for Mensa Bulletin again this past month. Made it just after seeing Dave Rapoza's tutorial, so you'll notice the obvious influence.

[Image: TrARCAU.jpg]

I was quite happy with it, and I thought the magazine was too, but they made so many alterations to it that it, kind of, looks a bit shit now.

[Image: JEqb54Z.jpg]

Oh well.

Not done much since the Chow, as I've bed ridden with sickness this past week. Although, I did draw a few Doctors.

[Image: ZDNJdZF.jpg]

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Craig Paton - 09-10-2014

"Yer' a Wizard, Jesse!"
[Image: cZiU47s.jpg]

Made a poster in support of the Yes Campaign in Scotland's Independence referendum. Didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Maybe went in at the deep end a bit, by trying out this line based comic style with so many characters involved. I had in my mind a cool Moebius style illustration, with cool line work and a minimal colour scheme. In the end, I just gave up on it half way through, and called it done.

[Image: ZtPPr6d.jpg]

Putting some time aside over the next few weeks to begin to try and develop my own personal project. Will make a post soon, and hopefully will be bale to show you guys some concepts and get your feedback on it. :)

Also, working on my Crimson Chow #2! :D

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Suira - 09-11-2014

Yo, Griffindor bitch! xD I bet it's gonna rock just as much as the last one hehe.

On the Scotland piece I gotta say I like it, some of the faces really work, like the one from the indian dude. I just have a couple quick crits:

Most males have a similar nose which takes away from the "multi-people" feeling. And the female faces look kinda awkward in general. Still I'm aware that when going for simplified styles it's hard to convey diference without the ability to render, but maybe studying how changing some basic marks can change the faces feel would do you some good.

Still, generally my crits go around what I'm studying atm, and right now I'm obsessed with facial construction, so take it with a grain of salt xD

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Lyraina - 09-12-2014

Ooh, looking forward to your own IP thing :)

In the Scotland poster, I think what Suira describes as 'awkward' is mostly due to using lines (wrinkles) on females which is always super difficult - especially anything around the nose. With the first row woman on the left there's also the chin line that stands really out to me, almost as if it's a scar (if it is - well then if works fine). I like the dark haired one on the back/middle! Only nitpicking here though, I think it's pretty cool. Good job on making them diverse and also read despite having so many heads on one page.

I hope you're feeling well again by now!

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - pnate - 09-12-2014

Yes, bring on the personal project! (and jesse pinkman CHOW)

Agree with Suira's crit about the noses, they do seem pretty similar. The only face that looks off to me is that woman on the left, but it's sort of an awkward turning angle. I really like that stark and simple illustration style for those two posters, I can see that working incredibly well in a comic. (personal project? :))

Most importantly, opinion on Capaldi?

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - meat - 09-12-2014

Too much awesomeness!

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Craig Paton - 09-13-2014

@Nate - I like Capaldi. He's been quite impressive so far, although I wasn't a fan of that Robin Hood episode. He's clearly a very strong actor. Looking forward to how the rest of the season goes.

@Et al - Appreciate the feedback on the comic style. You guys are right about the noses. Hadn't noticed I was doing that until you pointed it out, but they do all have the same nose. Makes then all look like they're related.

Woman on the left is a bit of a mess. Could have just done with replacing her entirely, maybe changing the awkward pose. Didn't notice until after I posted that a part of the cardboard texture cover the bottom of her chin, which is why she looks to have that weird chin scar.

Was a good exercise in building confidence in my line work and comic style. I don't plan to produce a comic project, as yet, but perhaps once I'm a bit more sure of my colour and line work it might be something I could consider.

I'll have a wee update on my personal project shortly. I'll likely keep updates on it only on here first, as maybe you guys could give me a little feedback, thoughts and direction on it before I take it further. It's not so much of a new IP, more of an adaptation of an old public domain work.

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Veneq - 09-18-2014

You never stop killing it. Inspiring the hell out of me!

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Craig Paton - 09-19-2014

Cheers, Veneq.

This is the first thing I've made for my proposed personal project, a character illustration of the poet Robert Burns. Plan on doing a few character and scene illustrations like this, to begin with, in order to plan out what I'm going to do with regards to style and direction, and maybe create a teaser proposal of what I plan to put together in the end. The end product I expect to be some kind of collection of illustrated Robert Burns poems and songs.

Of course, this all depends on the outcome of the Scottish referendum over the next day or so. As it will likely have an impact on how marketable a Scottish based IP will be.

Perhaps you guys can give me advice and feedback on the project as I go. I'm just going to keep plans and progress confined to this sketchbook for now.

[Image: J99kU5r.jpg]

Now to try and get my Chow #2 done on time for Sunday. :D

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - pnate - 09-19-2014

Fantastic rendering on Mr. Burns, and nice job on incorporating the photo elements; it all works really well. Excited to see moreee

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Craig Paton - 09-21-2014

Cheers, Nate, and thanks for the Rocky inspiration earlier. :)

Doesn't look like I'll get an entry done in time for Chow 2, sadly (Pre-occupied with a lot of the political goings on in Scotland as of late). Quite liked the idea I had going on though; an albino black guy wizard, with bleeding eyes and the lord's prayer on his chest. Would have sucked if I rushed it, so I may as well just wait until Chow #3.

[Image: VyYMZ3W.jpg]

RE: Craig's Sketchbook - Lyraina - 09-25-2014

That is an really interesting concept for the ChoW char, pity you couldn't finish! But yeah, rushing to an end won't help anyone.

Good job on Robert Burns, the hands are soooo good... I really like this 'standin on a ground disk' thing you're dong with your characters. The stone looks a bit flat to me to be honest - I think the strong rim light/outline clashes a bit with the very photographic front side. Not sure how to describe it better D: That's just me nitpicking though.
Keep it up!