I've had some different ideas for projects get off to false starts, but rather than try to bring them back (sometimes dead is better), I thought I'd just try to sketch and generate ideas for lots of different projects in these first few weeks. I have no idea what any of these might be yet, hopefully that will make it more fun.
These first sketches are iterations on a character I made when I was in 2nd grade. I don't think I've touched him since elementary school, which in my opinion gives him exception status to the whole "new ideas only" thing. There's something kinda cool about what kids will just rationalize.
It's a small start, but I hope to post new stuff frequently!
Got invested into this guy, I'll probably finish him out before moving onto some other ideas. He's kind of a mashup of some of the last batch of sketches.
Right now the shadow masses, light masses, and linework are all on their own layers, so I'll end up goin in and flatting in the local colors, and then just flattening it and just start painting.
Tried out some different color schemes. I already had a pretty specific idea of what his color scheme was gonna be, so maybe these options aren't the most adventurous. That's ok with me for now.
I love all of those colors! Are you just going in with color layers on top of the rendering you did before? This looks like such a ridiculously cool process, especially for iterations. Can't wait to see more.
Thanks dude - actually what I'm doing is painting each element in a normal layer, as a clipping mask over the base silhouette. The shadows and light masses are multiply layers and linear dodge layers on top of everything. Those are where the "rendering" is happening for right now. At this stage, I like having everything set up this way because I can iterate as much as I like, or as much as my AD might need me to. Trust me, I wouldn't have started working this way if not for my helpful AD's ;) Anyway, once I've made up my mind I'll flatten the character into its own layer and just start painting "directly".
The indirect method is a great way to cover a lot of ground early on, but is lacking when you really try to finish something out (imo). Ya know though, Devin Platts really seems to make it work for a final.
Below is a quick screencap of my layer arrangement for this guy:
i love the white one man looks cool. and great workflow smart thinking. there isnt much edges in there tho i wonder if it would work for a painterly style?
I really like C! Also, thanks for sharing your process :) Really interesting, and it explains a lot about how you keep the forms reading well throughout
^
Agreed. Really interesting stuff, i might have to try and apply this to my own stuff some time, thanks alot for sharing.
Also if you don't mind me asking, what so you do with that red layer?
I also keep this setup all the way to final (like monsieur Platts). I think the trick is tonal/textural variation within the clipping masks. It keeps the borders between elements and materials more subtle. Then once you lock the linework and selectively color that in (or just ditch it, if you were clean enough from the get-go), everything falls in place nicely. The only opaque painting I do is some effects at the end on top.. such as fall off, rim light, smoke, a giant dick. Whatever it needs, you know. This is just for production stuff, though, and my own work I tend to nail a gesture, drop in the shadows, drop in the local values and then just render opaquely on top. Less control, but it's fun and fast.
Anyway, this is looking super sexy. Glad to see you around here !
Hey guys, long time no post! I've felt a little bad about not updating, but i've been chipping away at the story for this thing for a while now. It's all starting to take shape enough where I feel comfortable posting again. Most of my work since summer has been writing and outlining, but hopefully I'll be gaining momentum on the art aspect soon.
This more to tease and to say hey, I'm still doing this thing. There are about 4 or so characters not in this line up yet, partially because i haven't decided what they look like yet, haha.
