Arch's Book of Stuff

[Kaffer]

Nice lesson about games there man. :) I started working on my art seriously about half a year ago, and in that time I switched my Xbox on about 3 times.. Just now I bought Diablo III 'cause I realised I need relaxation too, if I just paint and draw the entire day I'll go nuts. There are tons more games that I would be interested in, but I know it would hurt my studies, so I figured they can wait, my studies can't :) Same as everywhere: you just need to balance things out :)

[MW-Art]

You have a great learning curve in here! With the Darth-Vader guy in #70 you really reached a new level I think. I like the subtle value nuances. A little more work on the sword would have been more pleasing to the eye tho^^
Looking forward to your next pieces!

[Archreux]

Hey, thanks you guys! I've just got a pile of whatever for right now. I barely broke 11 hours this week, I need to stop eating and doing other things that distract me from painting/drawing, hahaha. Back to school stuff kinda sucks, but I can grind through it, and find something to do, even when I dead tired, no excuses. >:]

I need to kill at least on WIP from my pile each week, spend a good while on each of them to test my limit, I've built it up long enough.
I've also got pencils and inktober stuff in my sketchbook I'll scan later sometime.

Kaffrer, I couldn't agree more with you on that. Balance was one of the things that I felt was lacking when I couldn't stop playing, haha. So it just had to go for me. I figured I might just as well take a season off, and see what's new during the winter quarter.

MW, I really appreciate it. Now if only I can continue hitting that high point with each piece. :p

Madiza, will do! Thanks for the feedback. I do tend to forget from time to time, I suppose that's why it's sort of a spotty record.

Thanks again you guys! :]

[Archreux]

Busywork is keeping me down. Here's more spit.

[Archreux]

Warm-up.

[Archreux]

Back again, still waiting to get that sketchbook scanned. I spent most of the day with me.

First self-portrait ever. I suppose it's a small waddle forward in the right direction. :p

[Archreux]

Here's one of those WIPs from a while back. Not done yet, but I am getting there. Crits and comments welcome. :]
Hours for this week so far, 20. Only 20 more.

[Archreux]

1/2 hour study.

[Archreux]

Hey Daggers! It's been a'while. Here's some stuff. I haven't been counting my hours a diligently as I should, but I've estimated I logged somewhere around 27-30 hours this week, so I am getting closer to my ideal weekly goal. I plan to bring it even harder next week. >:]

After my first self-portrait I found it to be really fun, so I did another one, and I like doing them so much I'm thinking of doing one a week for a year, or so. We'll see how that turns out. So now everyone can watch me grow into my old age!

Any crits are welcome on this newer Dragon piece I've been working on for my portfolio class!

[Archreux]

[mat04art]

Wow very nice studies you've got there! I really like them! Also the selfportraits are great! Though something you should really take a look at again may be figure drawings. I see a lot of space for improvement here, especially when it comes to proportions.

Anyway, nice work so far!
Keep it up! :)

[Rognoll]

hey, nice! I like your pallets!
that dragon is kickass.

[Archreux]

Hey, thanks guys! Just a quick thing I've been doing for school. I'm less than enthusiastic about having to paint all these things. I'm still trying to make the best of it.

mat, thanks for reminding me about my figure proportions. I finally was able to pick up Michael Hampton's figure drawing book, and I've skimmed through Loomis as well, so I'll be on those hard for a while now.

Thanks Rognoll, just wait till it's finished. I really hope to make it even more kickass. :]

[Archreux]

I'm still working on this thing, and I can't seem to get it right. Well, the head at least, haha. If any of you guys could give me a little feedback regarding which head you like best that would be great! :D

[Warburton]

Yeah self portraits are awesome man, I started this journey doing self portraits everyday, after work and college and stuff. You'll learn a lot if you stick with them. I gave up at about 60 or something I think lol. There in my old sketchbook if your interested in seeing someone suck - http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthr...p?t=207379

There's some great stuff here man, I love some of these speedies your doing. There's a crit I can offer you if you want?
Your compositions could perhaps use abit work. The action scenes seem abit static, maybe because of all the verticals in them. Try to avoid using straight up/ down lines and horizontal lines because you make things seem stiff and boring. Take that gun fight piece, the direction of the trees on the left and right, the foreground shooters back. It's kinda tough to explain :s Plus it's tough to tell the distance between the two fighters. A good book I highly recommend if you can get your hands on it is 'framed ink' It opened my eyes to what composition even was, I had no idea really till I got that book - http://www.amazon.com/Framed-Ink-Drawing...1933492953

As for the dragon piece, I think B makes most sense with your light set up but put the eye in there from A. I'd even go as far to say make the eye and teeth more prominent to draw focal attention.

Hope this helps man, despite what ive written above you've defiantly been improving since my last visit so be sure to keep doing what your doing. Just keep pushing harder and forcing your self get better by going outside your comfort zones and you can't go far wrong. Can't wait to see how much ass you've been kicking on my next visit! Keep it up man.

[Archreux]

Hey, Warburton! Thanks for the thorough feedback, I totally get everything you're saying I'll be able to make some fixes and adjustments to things that are in the works. I'll have to take a look at that book, it looks like something that'd be worth checking out. I'd also gotten into Loomis's Creative Illustration a few months back, however I didn't get too far into it, I should really go back to it. Also, glad you like the dragon, and I'll be finishing it up within these next few days here.

Thanks again, it's always nice hearing what you and everyone else has to say. After you and Pnate gave me that last crit on my lighting and form I was on it, and I feel like I've made some headway in that respect.

I'll be back with more stuff! So much motivation.

[Warburton]

haha, yeah no problem man, glad to be of any help. I have that Loomis book too, it's really cool but I imagine if your anything like me the sheer size of it is a bit daunting and so it gets put to one side lol. That framed ink is pretty short and full of illustrations explaining all different comps and lightings, so it's really easy to digest.

I just read your previous post about dark souls too man and I completely understand where your coming from. It's really cool that you've been able to be honest and mature enough to sacrifice it for the greater good. I went through the exact same thing a few months back, but in the end their just distractions really. We all have this weird tendency to try and self destruct, whether it's eating shit food, watching crap on TV, playing to many game, smoking cigarettes. We all know this stuff is bad for us but we do them anyway. It's so hard to change ourselves and it takes a strong will of character to turn your back on these things, but those who do become better people for it. No victory without sacrifice.

Enough lectures from me in your sketchbook now lol. Keep the art flowing man!

[Archreux]

Hey people! I don't have much right now on account of school again. I've got some sketchbook stuff I'll get to scanning. Here's me in the mean time, and in Halloween flavor, I had to make up for last weeks portrait.

[smrr]

Man you're killing it with these self-portraits, right in time for self-portrait daaaaaay hurhur.

For the dragon's I'd have to go with B, the design is of the head is simple but effective and the lighting seems to fit well with your comp. Plus, it looks creepy-evil!

Great stuff, keep going hard, even though... school :P

[Archreux]

Hey thanks smrrfette! I know right, I didn't even know that it was, I guess I just got lucky, haha.

Here's just some more school stuff.