Fincks' sketchbook

[Fincks]

Thanks pugsloth !
It's more a problem of concentration and productivity. I'm more productive than a month ago but not as much as I should be.
I need to set strict rules :/

Some 1h master's studies :




Some 15min studies :

[Fincks]

Some of the composition I've made this week in my sketchbook that made it into b&w thumbnails
I will maybe push one of these further. b&w or colour, with a real design (the second one is already inspired by a ref, but I find it too common), don't know yet.


Still some speed studies and maybe one master study and I can call it a day.

[The Aether Technician]

Great studies goin' on here, keep up the awesome work!

[raz]

Nice to see all the studies. I'm trying to find time for them myself, so thanks for reminding me to try harder. Always a pleasure doing those. In your case, when it comes to figures, I would spend more time on the drawings. A good drawing is always a lifesaver, for me at least. If I skip the drawing phase, I tend to spend way too much time fixing mistakes that could've been avoided by just making an accurate drawing first. You know, just splitting everything into chunks instead of dealing with drawing, tone, color, edges at the same time. Keep up the great work!

[Fincks]

The Aether Technician : Thanks !

raz : My pleasure :B. Yeah, sometimes I rush too much and end up having to correct things I could have got right from the beginning that are now a pain in the ass -.-
Thanks for the tip!

Here is one of the thumbnails pushed further

[Fincks]

15/20min studies from today

[Baoto]

Hey Fincks!
When I looked through your sketchbook, your rendering skills really grabbed my attention! Especially on the detailed studies and the sci-fi game concepts on page 1 and 2.

If you like an idea, but find it too common as you said, maybe try to approach it from different angles or in a slightly altered setting? You could make a couple small thumbnails till you get what you want.
But all your studies seem to pay off nicely, I will follow your example and do more myself.
Keep it up!

Btw, who did that painting in the first post on this page with the girl in the red dress? The brushwork looks totally cool and I'd like to study this as well ;)

[Fincks]

Thanks !
Yeah I used to love rendering materials/texture. I still do but I need to improve my skill on a big scale.

Yeah, that could work. "Why is it too common ?" "What would be an original forest ?" "What context would make it original ?"
I'm starting to do more thumbnails, but sometimes I still struggle to find the right perspective.

Since I've started my speed studies I'm more confortable when I start a thumbnail or a painting.
And they can be pretty useful when you want to study some theme (like today with those oriental village)
You only have 15min, so you need to really take a look at the picture (for 1min) and try to understand the structure, the lighting source etc.
And well, Master's study are always useful. There work is a synthesis of everything they've learned.

The painter is John White Alexander. From what I've seen, he really loved girls in dresses !


I wasn't sure if I was going to do it, but here is the master's study of the day

[Fincks]

Master study of the day.
I started it last week but got frustrated really fast (1h). Lefebvre (the painter) is a monster. There is so much subtility in the skin ton.
So around 3h in the end. There are still obvious things that I could improve but I want to move on. It's way better than the first version but not that good.

[Baoto]

Thanks for telling me about John White Alexander! Yeah girls seemed to be his favorite subject...:)
I'm curious, are you doing master studies every day/ several times a day? I'm kinda reworking my schedule at the moment and wondered how that works out for you.

[Fincks]

Right now I'm trying (yeah trying, x) ) to do a master study every day (or at least 5/week).
My goal is on the long term. I plan on doing those master studies until the end of the year so I don't want to do more than one/day.
On conceptart.org, there is a thread where every day you have a new master study.
I try to finish it in 1 or 2 hours, but if I struggle on one (like the one above), I take more time.

If you struggle, it means you're improving, so don't hesitate to put more time into it.

15/20min studies of Albert Bierstadt's work.

[Fincks]

15/20min studies of Albert Bierstadt work :



Master study of the day. I'm really starting to like John White alexander's work.
Around 2h30, I couldn't stand her face anymore so for now I will leave it like that :

[constructicon]

Nice studies - but I think you should do some drawings/paintings
from imagination as well. Your speedpaintings aren`t bad at all :-)
You could push your church concept even further! Colors, more
textur and and. GIve it a try ;-)

[Fincks]

Thanks construction!
Yeah, I think you're right.
I did some thumbnails this week-end and I struggled to make something decent.
I realized that I was spending too much time on studies and not engouh on paintings.
I'm still gonna stick to b&w for one more week before switching to colors. I wanted to only paint b&w stuff for 2 months.

Just some speedpainting, between 30min and 1h30 (the second one)

[Fincks]

Out of the thumbnails I made today, this one was the most interesting, pushed it a bit, around 2h.

[Fincks]

Frazetta study, around 3h30, I will maybe finish the rendering of all the accessories tomorrow.

[Fincks]

Master Study



I started a painting of a shipwreck and asked some advice in this thread
http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-4...l#pid59593
Final version :


Still some flaws but I think my composition/lighting is much better than the first version.


Had some fun creating some flowers, I'm gonna detail 3 or 4 of them.

[Felime]

I wasn't sure if I was going to do it, but here is the master's study of the day
http://www.hapshack.com/images/SkF83.jpg

Not really a big issue, but it's kinda funny how such a small change in the tilt of his head can drastically change what appears to be going on.

Spoiler

Follow where he's looking.

[Fincks]

@Felime : Didn't see that one :B.

Here are 2 master studies in b&w.



And here are some rock design for a small project with a friend, trying to find some cool shape.

[Fincks]

Sooo, its been two years.

I'm back because... I don't know yet. I think I need something other than work.

I spent a year doing master studies and some painting, mostly working on my fundamentals. Most of this year was spent reading books, expanding my "mind" on life, trying to understand what I really wanted to do, what I needed, searching for some work in the game industry (which  I didn't find) etc.

I'm not gonna post my studies, but there were... a lot. Master studies in b&w, some in colours, skull studies, ethics faces studies, perspective exercises, architecture studies.

Here are some paintings I made while doing master studies :











Some portrait I made while doing face studies :



















Modifed self portrait



A little project that... was never finished of course :B
This was supposed to be the design of the sculpture of a deer god in a temple.










An attempt at colour.



Around the beginning of 2015, I stopped all my master studies/paintings exercises and I started to focus only on perspective drawing as I understood that this was what I wanted to do in concept art. Environment heavily focused on architeture. I won't post all the perspective thumbnail and my architecture studies.









Studies of som Triumphal Arch and sketches based on them. I was going to make a lot of "paintings" based on this work process, as I realized that I needed to really make everything step by step. This had always been my problem, and thanks to this year I finally understood why I felt like I couldn't improve in concept art.
But that's when the second year started and I went on a "new adventure"










It's weird as I thought I had finally grasped what I was searching this whole year. I had found the path I needed to take to improve my art, but I joined a studio a friend of mine created to make a game, gain some experience/cv in a real game production as this is what I really want to do . (my parents were starting to pressure me to find a work too ahah)

We made a little game in two month with our little team of amateur to gain experience, and this is probably the only "artwork" I've done on this game.





And for the game we've been making for more than 10 months, this is as close as an artwork I've made ahah. At first I had a little team of 3/4 graphist I was managing, now I'm alone, doing everything art related.









I'm not sure I'm here to draw/paint again on my free time (don't really have any). Improving my 2D skills isn't really my priority rigth now. I'll hang around and see if something inspires me.

Alright, I hope this wasn't too boring to read. See ya!