Opkluu's Mediocre Sketch Thread

[opkluu]

Compared to a majority of artists here, this sketch book will probably pale in comparison... but I'm confident that if I keep at it, eventually my work will come out looking fantastic. In the mean time, and critique, comments, and or criticism is welcomed. Suggestions for what to do with my sketching will be equally welcomed, I'd love to know how the experienced artist practices.

I'll start out with some older pieces...




- I'd say this was the first of my more successful digital paintings, I know the chest area and it's muscles make absolutely no sense...




- This was a piece in which I wanted to try to get as clean line art as I could, while trying to make it flow. After drawing a couple of gesture drawings, and studies of animals, I realized how much a difference it makes when you make muscles flow into each other.




- Just a fast sketch of a Dota 2 hero that I like. Doesn't really capture his face that well, but it was fast, and doesn't look too terrible.




- A character that was inspired by a rouge-like dungeon crawler game I played. A barbarian steam dragon who uses a spear.




- Some sketches from when I was bored in school, they came out fairly well, and there's also some exploration of the line art I posted earlier.







- sketches of my character from Dark Souls. One of the best games I've ever played. It's actually challenging, and has so much attention to detail in it, with so many different ways to play. That, and the enemies you fight are all designed so well.







Finally, some gestures I made a while ago. I thought that these were the most fluid and expressive of the bunch.

[CoreyH]

Some pretty cool stuff man, really like those pencil designs from your school.

[darktiste]

i like the way you quick draw

[opkluu]

Some pretty cool stuff man, really like those pencil designs from your school.

Thanks, I've got some more pencil studies and things I drew a couple days ago, just came back from vacation, and while I was out, I drew somethings.




- Some horses that I drew from pictures I took when we visited a stable




- Some armor and pistols from a museum




- More of the weapons included in the museum, and a helmet







- And finally some more dragons... I tried to try something different than my normal style, ended up looking good

More is on the way!

[aechling]

Love that first blue dragon you posted :) For the second piece with just the lineart and simple colours, are you going to be taking that any further?
Great stuff so far, looking forward to seeing more!

[opkluu]

Love that first blue dragon you posted :) For the second piece with just the lineart and simple colours, are you going to be taking that any further?
Great stuff so far, looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks, he's one of my favorites at the moment... but I know can I do much better! I don't think I'll be doing anything more to that lineart piece. I guess I just feel I should focus on making more dynamic poses, or having the characters actually interacting with something rather than just boring static poses. But those poses are just so much easier to default to...

Thanks again, I'll try my best to keep this thread up to date.

[opkluu]

I really want to work for a game company later in life, so I'm dabbling in somethings, such as 3D modelling. Concept art would be my goal, or really any type of art design. If anyone's ever played or heard of Dota 2, it had a marketplace where users can make their own custom cosmetic items. The game is a blast, so I've decided with a friend to try to make some items, more for the experience than for the money... IF the items are even good enough to make it.

Reguardless, here's a couple of concept sketches I made...




- Here's the preliminary thumbnails for the armor designs. The silhouette is from the game model.




- And here are some axe designs I was playing around with for the set I chose. It's supposed to be bear themed, hence the bear claw axes.




- And here's the same thing, but with another set, based on bones. I think the jaw bone axes look the best.




- Finally, here's the armor a little rendered onto the real game model. I decided the bone was better, but I can always go back and try the bear set.




- As a bonus, I got bored and decided to make a sketch of the best looking hero in my opinion. I'd like to push this sketch and fully render it, but I don't really know where to start, as I never really get past the sketch stage with much.... any pointers?

[aechling]

Thanks, he's one of my favorites at the moment... but I know can I do much better! I don't think I'll be doing anything more to that lineart piece. I guess I just feel I should focus on making more dynamic poses, or having the characters actually interacting with something rather than just boring static poses. But those poses are just so much easier to default to...

Thanks again, I'll try my best to keep this thread up to date.

You're very welcome :)
With the problem of the poses that you seem to be having, I'd suggest doing loose gestural poses, which are meant to be pretty quick, just as a way to break out of the static poses. Similar to figure gestures, but instead with creatures and dragons. Of course you'd have to make them up in your head, but I think it'd be a good exercise.
It's just all about practicing I suppose!

[JBZ]

I can't believe you call this mediocre, man! I'm sure you've still got plenty of things to learn (don't we all), but your work is already looking very cool. Keep up those sketches!

[opkluu]

@ aechling - Doing gestures of these kinds of creatures would be a great idea, thanks! It'll sure be a bit tricky, maybe I can reference similar type animals...?

@ JBZ - Oh come on, your work looks so polished and colorful in comparison to mine! That, and the way you show form with light is great! Makes me want to attempt a nice, digital self portrait!

[missimoinsane]

- Ah found it. Also found you on dA woot. Anyway from what I can see you have absolute brilliant foundations (in my opinion). This site can definitely help you brush up on your skills and improve. I can't wait to watch you develop :) Good luck with your career choice :) Imogen

[opkluu]

- Ah found it. Also found you on dA woot. Anyway from what I can see you have absolute brilliant foundations (in my opinion). This site can definitely help you brush up on your skills and improve. I can't wait to watch you develop :) Good luck with your career choice :) Imogen

Haha, yeah, Opkluu is a bit of a unique name. Thanks, I'll definitely try my best and try as hard as I can to achieve my goals.

Here's some more sketches and things from today...




- A little daily sketch for another blog type place. The theme today was animal heads on human bodies, so here we have the dapper iguanna!




- Some dragon heads, but with a different style I wanted to try out. I also wanted to try drawing with color (because I don't do it enough) and trying to make some interesting color schemes. I think where the head connects to the horns is the best area...

[missimoinsane]

Actually loving both of them. Fantastic job :D

[JulieJean]

Lovely colours :) Some good stuff in your sketchbook! I like your armour concepts, that seems like a fun exercise to do, spark some creativity :) Keep it up!

[aechling]

Cool dragon heads :) Just watch they don't become too neon-y though, unless that was the effect you intended to go for!
And for the gestures, I would agree, snakes come to mind as well as any 4 legged creature you can base your dragons off of.

[opkluu]

Actually loving both of them. Fantastic job :D

Thanks!

Lovely colours :) Some good stuff in your sketchbook! I like your armour concepts, that seems like a fun exercise to do, spark some creativity :) Keep it up!

Thanks, color is probably my weakest concept, so I'm trying to focus on that.

Cool dragon heads :) Just watch they don't become too neon-y though, unless that was the effect you intended to go for!
And for the gestures, I would agree, snakes come to mind as well as any 4 legged creature you can base your dragons off of.

Thanks! I was trying out color combos, but I do need what you mean.

***

I didn't really do much today, but I guess I'll leave you with a quick sketch study of a kitten!

[ruffledo]

Great Dota2 concept process. Nice stuff in your SB in general. Keep it up man! :)

[brianjohnson]

Really nice stuff here. I will be checking back for sure.

[rob_powell]

I'd say better than mediocre, I like the line work in your sketches! Very loose and lively, you should do more gestures like the horse and puma.

[Mr. Toodles]

Hey cool dota2 stuff! I like the beast master ideas a lot, how did you load the model? was it in a modeling software, or something valve provides?