Adzerak's book o' sketches

[Adam Lina]

Nice CHOW idea! Loving your designs too. And thanks for the gesture advice. I've been trying out the one line approach and finding it useful for thinking more rhythmically.

[Adzerak]

Hypnagogic_Haze: Thanks mate ;D I too think that the one line way helps channel that gestural feel more and loosen up some of that stiffness in the figures.


Over at girlfriendtown this week but stil managing to get in some painting!



Might continue a bit on this. Good to do an environment again, been a while since last time. I mostly end up doing environments that are somewhat sunny, so it's interesting to experiment more with overcast and the like. Still wanna put lots of contrast in but have to stop myself heh....Hmm I guess the water shouldn't be that bright tho, have to change that...




I liked this idea to begin with but didn't turn out as I wanted too and it got kinda rushed in the end due to poor planning. Looking foreward to future CHOW challenges!



A 1 h one: Shadowmancer. Feels like this idea is something that can be played around with and made more awesome.

[Jaik]

Nice shadowmancer piece. I think if you played up that half in light on the character it could be a seriously cool piece. Give him some more head room though for compositions sake :)
Keep up the good work :)

[pnate]

Hey man! Nice stuff so far in the sketchbook. One crit I can offer is to try focusing on materials and ways you can paint them efficiently through some studies. For instance, in the CHOW piece, with just a little more ref research you probably could have pushed the folds in their clothes to a higher level, as well as the ripple on the water and the way water is lit up by a light source next to it. It feels about 60-70% finished to me, but that could have just been a time running out situation like you mentioned. Hope I'm not harping on too much here, your stuff is getting better with every page. Keep it up!

[Adzerak]

Jaik: Thanks man :) Dunno if I will touch that piece again, but I will think about the head-room tip for the future! And..well, can always do with more half-lights!

Pnate: I hear ya man! That piece was really rushed in the end, but what you say can still really be applied to all my other work. Just beginning to think more about how I work my brushstrokes, to be more loose where the material should be loose, like fur or such etc. My work usually ends up being pretty blocky.
Oh, snd that wasn't even supposed to be water, just some magic ripple effect xD But aye, more material studies aren't a bad idea. Not. At. All!


So, trying to work on more than one piece at a time and see which one's are worth to continue on. Been going kinda slow tho, been suffering from some good ol' blur-o-vision :/ Might need new glasses, might be tired for some reason...Or..Maybe my eyes are just fucked? But often when I sit here it's like looking at a 480p-video, or a VHS movie, when it should be bluray or at least DVD-quality you know. Maybe this is common, I dunno xD trying to take breaks once in a while heh.



Inktober. Yeeeeeah. (im late)



Took a painting from a few pages back and tried to make something different out of the color scheme/setting. Didn't really like it in the end so I quit messing around with it. Need more studies and observations of overcast environments, cause I tend to want to go for that higher contrast that a strong light source creates.



The overcastiness turned out better in this one!



Probably gonna continue on this, like it so far. Jolly wanderlust fellow.

[Flo]

Hey man, nice colors in your pieces, you definitely improving. I think you could push those pieces to a more finished look by adding more textures and gradients. as it is a lot of your work seems a bit flat and blocky (like you said) and then really work out the focal point. Add a place where there is a lot to see. that way it will look more finished, without really being it.
I think it is a good thing, that you can leave a piece without overworking it, which is something I can't ^^

keep it up

[Adzerak]

Thanks for that feedback there, Flo! And right you are, I've been in a blocky period for some time now it seems. Guess I've been there since I started working more directly in color. Before I usually used to start more in grayscale and I'm much more used to that, getting the forms down before thinking about hue and saturation. I looked at some older work and some pieces had better form and texture in them (tho not as good/no colors tho heh). So yes, more attention to form and also brushwork to get more texture in ;D


Since I started working more with color many of my pieces have been a bit too saturated for my taste. And I've lost some of that feel for form, which is why I'm gonna switch it up more and start out with a grayscale block-in and semi-render or whatnot, see where it get's me.
Going to feel nice to focus more on value again!
But for now, here's some inks and a finished barbarian or some such!



Irl ink! Easy to forget how unforgiving this is xD That thief should have a way more visible right leg, but I guess it's there, somewhere.



PS...ink. Got bolder with the shading and I really like the way it't still readable.


This version is a big step-up from the old wip of the guy on the previous page xD

[Adzerak]

Some studies and a WIP of a shadowy inquisitor guy!


Tried to focus on how atmospheric perspective can behave in an overcast environment. How blue the mountains that fade in perspective can get even though the sky is greyish. Might be due to the fact that it is a photograph? As long as it look plausible I don't mind I guess. Like how the blues can be even more prominent on the hill furthest away.




A bit more focus on rendering with different brushes and also trying to really feel the different material, something I often forget to do. Feel how the water flows and try to reflect that with my choice of brush and also the strokes. Interesting how black the shadows can get too, might be cause of photograph I guess, not as much reflected light as it might be irl? Still, feels like I got what I wanted from this here study xD




Began with a grayscale, added basic colors on a color layer and then merged and painted on top of that on a normal layer. I used to use that approach a lot in the past and I remember now why I like it. Gives me more time to get the values to read before I jump into color, while also maintaining a level of saturation that looks better to me (I tend to use more saturated colors when doing lineart + straight to color). Going to continue to render this and try to push the sense of form more.

[Adzerak]

Ugh. Still mayor blur-o-vision going on, guess I need to go check my eyes.
ANyway. Been rendering on some stuff. Went back and forth with the fleshy zombie guy and I think I learnt some stuff in the process.





Dûsh Twisted-Arm. Fearsome watercolor orc. Need to plan these more..:/

[Jaik]

Ohhh nice studies! Really like the waterfall/river one.

Props for water colours, I guess it really would force you to plan out your drawings more. Your forms could use some more pushing in the last digital piece to make it sit more in the environment but other than that everything is looking good!

Keep up the hard work!

[Adzerak]

Thanks there, Jaik! Heh yea, that orc was a wake up call when it comes to planning stuff out more. Too used to how forgiving digital is. Hmm. Do you mean that the forms of the creature and those of the background don't match up according to the lighting? Or that the guy should just pop more from the background? Hard work will be kept up!



So, this is from Dragon age Inquisition. I just happened to like the mood and composition of that shot so I wanted to do a quick study of that mood to add to my visual library. When it comes to environments I often just automatically think: "uh, grass green, sky blue!" and they always look very similar. It's not weird to study a frame from a game right? Shut up.



Did this for the same reason as the one above. Also irl photo this time..feels weird to want to point that out heh.



Liking this guy much better now, the armor looks way more shiny and yea, armorish. A bit uncertain of how much his blades at the very edges of the image bothers me, if at all.

[Adzerak]

Been at gfs town for a while now and got itchy fingers, borrowed her tablet for a while :) Hard to paint with but fun to try!

[Adzerak]

Yup, time for some updates.

This started out without much planning, just wanted to paint some grassy ruins and statues. Cramped composition with too many focal points that are too narrow...



Began reworking the painting above and ended up just redrawing the while thing with similar theme and colors. Like this more, more spacious, if that is the correct word for it. ..There's more space..Spacey. Kevin.



Inspired by the Fade, from Dragon age.



Aaaand the Eternal WIP Shadow warrior-guy. Soon done at least. Liking him more without those swords. Now he looks threatening in an almost welcoming way I think.



Sketches!

[Adzerak]

Sketches, a speedpaint and also a well-groomed ginger dwarf for ye!

[Adzerak]

Been finishing some stuffs.


Kinda like the light in this.



Felt like doing some sci-fi for a change, and noooo it's not goddamn destiny xD



Quick greyscale experiment, pit fighter.


Guess he's done.

[Adzerak]

Karl Kopinski master study. Learnt a lot doing this one. Really helped pound my head with the importance of proper brush usage. In this I wanted a more painterly look and that was really hard to achieve with the brushes i commonly use, felt awesome to switch it up a bit!



Began doing the one character a day-challenge. Tons of fun! Tho I will try to make them a bit more flat and sketchy most of the time I guess, so I have some over for studies and illustration pieces.



"Well, Skeleseer can suck-a my dick!" / Ellie


The swedish word "Mage" means stomach. Whenever I see that word pop up in some health commercial my first thoughts go to guys like these however.


Tried something different with this one, didn't turn out so well. Take it away Clay Davis! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1dnqKGuezo





Other stuff!

Speedpaint that I might work more on perhaps.



"There be safety in numbers, and I am two or three at least!" Ah. Love you Minsc.

[Adzerak]

Some more daily chars, a scan and some sketches for the CROW. Always enter those challenges so late when I enter, but hey, gonna render that topmost left one a bit at least xD


Fun to try different approaches with these.

[Adzerak]

Dailies and the final Creature of the week.
Did the yuan-ti, snakeperson whatever and the marine by using gamut mapping. Must use that more, so sweet for sticking to a limited palette and for me, limiting saturation xD






"En oooorm sssaduu!?"

Dwarf bard. Chanting about digging holes and also being a dwarf.



Yoga warrior, because you're posture's fantastic!


Had real fun with this here CROW

[Adzerak]

Diety challenge final, and a bunch of daily chars...










Ah. Good ol washy greyscale + color layer coloring. I'll try this more in the future but with some normal layer coloring on top.



First attempt at a so called spitpaint. Woo.

[Adzerak]

Sketches and studies for this weeks crimson revolver!