Crackbook

[Rognoll]

nice! you're getting that lights pretty well. That sphere study seems interesting!

[MrFrenik]

The complex sphere studies are awesome. Doing things like that to test your ability to draw and render complex forms is great practice. Try doing those same ones but in different materials, or with different lighting situations. Tons of ways to apply that exercise.

[crackedskull]

Day 22
4h done

Totally agree with you monkeybread, thanks.

Thanks Rognoll, heres the ref I did it from.



Thank you Freinik, will try it.

Today started off really frustrating, tried to finish the enviro I did yesterday, but dropped the ball big time. Did learn some stuff though. Then started with the character, where I did so much mistakes and that didnt end well. And yeah, PS crashed every now and then.
Then moved on to a study and had fun. I quess im not good enough to do original and decent stuff yet so I will be combining my stuff with studies.

[MrFrenik]

Oh, right, thought that exercise looked familiar! Sam Nielson's Blog is a great resource for painting and design instruction as well as other interesting reads, for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

[crackedskull]

Day 23
4h done

Thanks Freinik, will check it out.

So Im coming to a point where most artists start to lose creativity, because they are unhappy with their skills and therefore are afraid to produce original content. My way to combat it is to merge my concepts with studies. Be creative within the parameters of the study. Ive compiled an explanation below.

Crackedskull's way to make studies fun: Remember, there are no rules, just because you are doing a so called "study" of something doesnt mean you should replicate a 100% copy of it. If you think this color is more fitting and vibrant use it, even it looks different in the study. If you want to add something, go ahead, there are no restrictions. Doing a value study on a person, is it too boring? Add horns/a tail/ skullhands?. Doing environments, but they seem boring, add ruins/sci fi/ anything that intrests you. From there on you can morph the original study so much that it becomes something new.

The point of this is that there are no restrictions in studies, you can do whatever you want. And I say if you see a pattern of a face, then you better go for it champ!

3h study wip showing what I mean.


Progress on character, starting to get the feel down, also was really stuck on face, but Mr.White helped me out.

[Bjulvar]

Hey duuude!
You've improved so much in such a short time. Really impressive and inspiring man!

I think that you've reached a really healthy conclussion about studying and such. It's important that you don't copy what you're looking at, but instead observing and understanding it. Like the great Vilppu spams his books with "There are no rules, just tools"
Being unhappy about your skill means that your observationally improving eye is catching up with what you can produce! And it really shows. It's that sexy peak we all have to climb so that we can roll back down :P

I like this night scene with the pirate (I hope!) that you're doing now! I'd check out his hip area, it looks like he lost it in the fire! You could try and trace a skeleton over him on a seperate layer to nail the proportions before moving forward further. That could help you observe his gesture a bit better. Because it looks quite unsure where he's going.

Also, you're always good enough to be original. You could never get rid of your originality even if you wanted to.
Xoxo, keep it up :D

[crackedskull]

Day 24
2h done

Thanks bro :D

Finished the cave


Welp, this is the part where I find refs and work on design.


Wip for a competition.

[ramalooke]

Awesome sketchbook you have here bro. Dunno how I could miss it previously. Solid studies and impressive volume of work. Keep on rockin!

[BaZoOkaPoOka]

Ah that's a great idea, combining studies with creativity , thanks for sharing I may try it
And keep it up , love seeing your progress, you are doing great

[Eraiasu]

Hey man! I like the attitude about the studies! I have been combating this problem, where I don't feel like I have any ideas. But if I study and get better, I can execute everything... Problem is, where are the ideas? I'm going to try out your method man. Thanks for the tip!

As for your studies, they are getting better :D

[crackedskull]

Day 25
10h done

Thank you for feedback.


Nothing much to say about today, felt like a marathon, did a lot of fast sketches but its allright.
Also Photoshop was a total ass today, crashed a total of 12-15 times. At one point it crashed every 1-2 min so I restarted the computer and worked with a pen and paper.

Quick warmup sketch


Continued with the character, didnt bother looking for refs so I just winged it.


Wanted to do a focused motorcycle study, but started questioning why do I need it. Finished at lineart.


More fast stuff






Updating the concept "See you on the internet". Crits and discussions welcome.


Hell.


Pensketches and a landscape study

[BaZoOkaPoOka]

Wow so much work ! You are getting a lot better at perspective , love the traditional pages

[crackedskull]

Day 26
5h

Thanks Kat, every bit helps

Finished the char, should go over it, but I want to keep going forvard with new stuff. Also study wip.

[smrr]

Good work with your perspective, Cracked!
Really been stepping it up and it shows in this last sexual update!

Keep it up :J

[Prabu]

Impressive WIPs :)

Photoshop crashing 10~15 times :/
Damn. Have you tried disabling GPU acceleration in Photoshop settings?

[MrFrenik]

This is actually the exact way that I've been doing studies for a while now, and it's worked out pretty well for me. It's a great way to combine strict studies with imaginative works, so do as much as you can. I've even started to begin pieces that way, where I pick an element of a photo/painting that I like (composition/lighting/color scheme/etc) and then turn that one element into something of my own. Try it out!

[crackedskull]

Day 27
5h

Thanks Smrr :)

Thank you so much Prabu! I did that and some other tweaks and now its not crashing anymore.

Thanks Freinik, tried this today on some works, works quite well.


I think my critical judgement just jumped up. Everything looks more crappy and Im beginning to see flaws in color aswell. Makes it harder to work, but its all natural.


As for workflow I tried out some new ways of working after watching Dave Rapoza's knight sketch toturial again. Also I messed around with adjustments and a lot of time was spent on trying to correct my mistakes.

Started with this doodle.


Finished this


Horserider study


Concept based on it, changed the horse to giant hound. There's ton of underlying problems so makes it hard to work on.


And a half assed castle study.

[crackedskull]

Day 28
4h done

Electricity went out because of a storm, didnt stop me though, got out the candles and did it the old fashioned way.


Some stuff I did right before it went out.


And then some pencildrawings, couldnt keep my hand or face in the same pose so drawings went out of proportion.

[crackedskull]

Day 29
4h done

[crackedskull]

Day 30
4h done


Finished the hellhound knight


Worked on this


And anatomy