Practice Infinitum

[JyonnyNovice]

Hey man! Many thanks for the encouragement in my sketchbook. Your stuff is looking great, congrats on leaving school / job to pursue your dreams! (not that quitting school / job is always good but being brave enough to follow your heart is!). Was loving the traditional stuff, now you're focusing on digital more because of speed? to learn it better? because of the industry?

All the best!

[Grotessive]

OH MY GOD! You're working so hard that i feel like not working at all. I really really like these studies and those illustrations :O. Awesome job

[nphill19]

JyonnyNovice- Hey man! Many thanks for the encouragement in my sketchbook. Your stuff is looking great, congrats on leaving school / job to pursue your dreams! (not that quitting school / job is always good but being brave enough to follow your heart is!). Was loving the traditional stuff, now you're focusing on digital more because of speed? to learn it better? because of the industry?

You're very welcome, thanks for the kind words. To answer your question, I am pushing digital for a couple reasons, chiefly there is a convenience in the tool. I'm not terribly much faster in digital versus oil with actual illustrations, but the versatility in digital and efficiency makes it smarter overall right now. My plan is to level up my digital, and get work ASAP, and as I get more familiar in the industry/ better understanding overall I will revisit oils.

TL;DR- I truly love oils but I think there is more bang for buck digitally, at least now in the short term.

Grotessive- OH MY GOD! You're working so hard that i feel like not working at all. I really really like these studies and those illustrations :O. Awesome job

Haha, thank you! I finally have the time so I'm pushing as hard as I can while I can! And don't worry, any and every bit helps, just do what you can when you can! :D



This is a portrait photo study of Olivia Wilde. I knew portraying someone so well known would be a challenge, but man! My brain really fought me hard here. I really wanted to hammer in a likeness, work on blocking color in shapes/forms and avoid rendering. Started over completely twice, and all told spent about 5 hours and some change on it. Eeeesh.

[nphill19]

Just a quick reference for the schedule I'm using. Study, study!



Finally got the line drawing and the silhouette hammered in so I'm starting the long awesome process that is rendering a new portfolio piece.

[nphill19]

Felt like absolute crap all day, I think I ate some bad food or something last night.

Managed to squeeze in a master's study though.

[nphill19]

Faces! And a master study because they are so much better at colors than me hahah.

[nphill19]

Suuuuuuuuuuper tough study, that head angle slayed me....and trying to do everything in one hour, one layer? Ridiculous challenge.

I'm going to go try to get that character painting done this week. Excited to have some really finished looking stuff done soon.

[nphill19]

Haven't felt well these past couple days and I think the studies reflect it...I gotta pull it together, and do better this week.



I want to draw at least 100 hands this week, I desperately need to improve those.

Tomorrow will be better, I'll make sure of it.

[nphill19]

Ridiculous what a second light source will do. I can't believe how different this self portrait is from the one I did a week ago.

[nphill19]

Finally a master study I feel like I did a competent job on. Yeeeeeesh.


And 10 more hands towards my 100 count.




Annnnnd a character I have been struggling on this week. Tried the Ambient Occlusion, and Idk...I feel stronger just painting things...and feel like I should go back some and redo it with more painting and less fills? Any CC would be kickass.

[nphill19]

I immediately like this more, I think I am going to paint things out instead of being so mechanical. Feels stronger. I want this lady done this week and another started. Running out of time hahaha.

[Rosolino]

Hey Nphil!!
Enjoying here your improvement with master studies and your sketchbook o/
In relation to this character that are you doing, some things caught my attention, like:
1. Her legs, try to increase a bit, seems to me they are too small!
2. Her neck appears to be very large, I would try to decrease a bit!
3. And, keep the awesomeness :D

ps: i liked the oldest version :p (colors and lighting)

Take care :)

[nphill19]

Thank you for the C&C Rosolino! Finished it up and I am pretty happy to add it to my portfolio! :)

And now I'm finishing this bad mamajama up for Draw or Die on facebook, might turn out to be another decent portfolio piece!

[nphill19]

Annnnnnnd here's the final. Had a lot of fun breaking out and trying to do some science fiction. lots of struggle and lots of fun:

[nphill19]

O.G., original grumpycat lmao

Just fooling around before I start my next painting.

[nphill19]

Studies from today. Saddling up for the next sprint. Gotta get better.

[nphill19]

Enjoy, creepy muppet selfie.

[RickRichards]

Good stuff here. Keep it up man!

[nphill19]

Thanks Rick!

New finished up painting. I keep calling it "The goods guy" It's a terrible title and I love it. Haha

[nphill19]

I got some super awesome critiques from a professional friend a month-ish back, and after these recent pieces decided to go all in. It was supposed to just be a revision of the head and hands but quickly escalated into a complete redo!