mactire's sketchbook! - now with end of year atelier stuff

[mactire]

Hey Daggers!

Should have started this a long time ago. I'm on a year out from college so that gives me a year to make as much progress as I can!! Expect to see this updated as near to daily as possible as I grind through the studies since I've a lot of catching up to do!!Here's an idea of what I've been up to lately, for a full account see my BLOG!

Enjoy! All and any comments, critiques, shouts of abuse etc. are greatly appreciated!! (ok, well maybe not the shouts)...

[JonHop]

excellent sketchbook, that skyrim like armour is very good! Keep posting up your work, waiting to see your progress from today! :P.

[mactire]

JonHop: Thanks Jon! Will do!

Had some fun with landscapes today, working from ref and then extending the canvas and attempting to keep working, as you can see it went pretty fantasy pretty quickly! I think it should be easy to guess which I had most fun with!

[Cricketts]

Cool stuff really like the third one with the sword.

[Jonesoda]

Damnn sick armor! especially like that armor sketch above the orc, looking forward to more. gonna keep an eye on your sketchbook.

[mactire]

Cricketts: Thanks!

Jonesoda: Thanks!


Quick and dirty sketch from today:

[mactire]

Here's some recent sketches and some not so recent thumbs:

[DK]

Hey man, those thumbnails at the end are beautiful! Some unique weapons and armors in there for sure. Would be cool to see you use some of them in a future illustration. Great studies and illos in here as well.

For the head studies you're doin I wouldn't worry too much on getting lines perfect in the very beginning. You could probably use some 30/60 second gesture drawings of the head using a foundation method of some sort; even with messy lines going everywhere, just so you can learn how to flesh that area out quicker in a longer study. I see you set up some light construction lines, but you could probably go even further in setting up the foundation before you go into the final lines. Either way, you will figure out your own methods if you keep workin at it. Keep it up man!

[mactire]

Dennis: Thanks Dennis!! I appreciate the comments about the thumbs especially, they were good fun and I too am looking forward to doing something more with them. As for the heads, I decided to take your advice and did a whole load of head gestures today (shall post pics tomorrow), but I did minimal construction (only a crosshairs) and as well as making each go quicker, I think I got some more unique results, undoubtedly because I was no longer being a slave to "rules" and proportions.

Other than the aforementioned gestures, here's some nudes (2 1hour studies from ref and one done from memory whilst listening to the Kekai interview) and a guard for good measure:

[Psychobuddy]

Awesome work dude, I love your concepts. That last guard is really cool :D

Not too much to crit, you know what you're doing XD Just keep going!

[mickeyfinn]

Awesome stuff Mactire. Loving seeing you go for that many weapon thumbs! Iteration is a totally different sort of skill, and it's awesome to see you developing that skillset.

[M-rahsart]

I love you weapon thumbnail..

[mactire]

Psychobuddy: Thanks!

mickeyfinn: Thanks!

M-rahsart: Thanks![/b]

Landscape studies from today, and a quick landscape and character sketch:

[mactire]

More studies and stuff. The giant crab is a WIP for COW.

[mactire]

Some more studies, just looking at what I felt was of immediate importance for my COW challenge entry, notably simplifying silhouettes of background characters (the Baratheon / Lannister troops in the back of the GoT screenshot study - I'll actually continue working on this one as I'm enjoying it but also using it to investigate representing different materials) and the general palette and lighting of the elephant photo. Lastly a quick block-in over a sketch that I pulled together with a quick cheat from SketchUp to set up the camera angle and perspective (not that it's a demanding scene, just wanted to give it a try):

[mactire]

Wanted to sketch today but it appears someone is borrowing my pencil... still life based on a Sackboy figure, with the pose and button eyes modified somewhat. Also, an armour study to help some pieces I'm currently working on, a quick alchemy sketch that may become an enviro painting sometime in the near future.

[mactire]

Update on the mounted knight, still have quite a way to go with it, for example that mane and the half-timbered architecture are still screaming at me, which means studies are needed!:

[mactire]

Attended a life drawing workshop today, challenged myself to attempt to do a portrait of the model from memory afterwards. The likeness is close enough to the image in my head, but at the same time there was sufficient floundering about required to get there to mean that some serious study is in order to get better at imaginative portraits:

[mactire]

My entry for COW #265 Frontline Assault Beast:

[atrenr]

The scorpion, I love it...I love it