Nice Inktober sketches Rick! I think my favourite is the lady with the vine creepers.
One little technique I like to use with line is to sketch in the shadow shapes before I hatch them in. It gives me more control when I enclose the shadow shapes like that and sometimes this can even simulate a core shadow. Something to try? If not please ignore :).
Keep at it though dude :).
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
@Fedodika- Yeah, pretty fun to get to traditional stuff.
@Artloader- Thanks man. It´s a pretty interesting tip. I actually love copic markers and they would allow me to cover large areas quicly and create more depth but they´re quite expensive. Maybe in next years inktober i´ll avance with that toolset.
A few digital studies to go back to digitals and be ready to finish my portfolio piece.
@Fedodika - Thanks man. Yeah, the feet and hands give me a lot of trouble, i need to neutralize those weaknesses.
The knees i think that i got them under control, on those previous studies i´ve just rushed a bit to the fun stuff.
Happy new year. It´s been a while, lots of stuff happenin but i´m back.
On this post i´m uploading a few studies from last year and another update on the piece that i haven´t finished YET lol.
What started as a little side fan project became a more complex fan project. As a huge fan of Streets of Rage and also a big fan of the last animated spiderman movie, i´ve tried to create a unique style merging both in a redesign of the original SOR characters and some bosses.
All favourites are there; Alex, Adam, Blaze, Skate, Max and Zan. I´ve obliged myself to create two entirely new designs; Daiji and Emma.
Also, i don´t know what was i thinking to redesign all those bosses haha; Antonio, Souther, Abadede, Bongo, Mona & Lisa, Shiva and instead of doing the classic, Mr. X, tried to make his son instead, Mr. X Jr.
PS; I´ve done several traditional studies of the awesome work of Shiyoon Kim for the Spiderman movie, and many Griz and Norm figure studies to learn with them to luce my line.
these have some definite improvement in shapes, poses, anatomy. I say to keep pushing style and push stuff farther than youre comfortable, then reign it back and see what you can get away with. They still dont feel super "cool" yet but they are getting there. The designs are stronger, definitely, specially some of the girls and the claw guy.
Make the midsections tinier, more muscle definition, more rigid shapes, more TLC on the contours and silhouettes, its just mileage really at this point. keep buckling down on anatomy. Draw hands in a "cool" way like joe maduriera, how do i make every single part of this cool, good work ricardo
1. Use the biggest brush possible for a given passage. 2. Paint large shapes first, followed by small shapes. 3. Save your tonal and chromatic accents until the last. 4. Try to soften any edge that doesn’t need to be sharp. 5. Take time to get the center of interest right.
Or, the briefer version: (B.L.A.S.T.) Big brushes. Large to small. Accents last. Soften edges. Take your time.
@ Fedodika- Thanks dude. Pushing harder is a goal indeed, poses and what i can getaway with, regarding style.
I do get your point, the designs have vibe from the original sprites, a 90´s ish vibe. I was a bit concerned about if i would change too much they would be unrecognisable but looking back i see i could have been a bit more bold with the designs.
Thanks! Yes, gotta tackle those hands.
@ Beau- Thanks man, glad the narrative aspect passes through!
I agree, with special emphasis on form and dynamic posing. Those poses were too attached to the 90´s 16 bit era concept art haha.
Thanks for the references.
In between work break studies after Shiyoon Kim Spiderman movie concepts and Griz and Norm figure sketches.
Also a mixup of some sketchbook doodles.
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@ Fedodika- Glad to read that my friend. I think i´m starting to have a core style that can be adapted to several situations but i will push harder.
This time i´ve done a few traditional studies, the viking designs are studies from the awesome Valentin Demchenko that you can find on Artstation, i became instantly a fan of his character line & shape simplification and sophistication. Also tried to learn better shape push and pull with him.
A few figure and portraiture from a museum, a few figures from the fantastic Glenn Vilppu to understand and push that old masters anatomy sophistication, like Rubens.
Also a traditional study of Anders Zorn, i intend to do more during my lunch breaks. Anders has a solid understanding of value both on canvas and traditionally. Iintent to dissect his compositions and traditional value.
On the digital side, i did a few caricature commitions, the only one i post was a commition for friends.
A few grayscale studies. Even though i find the grasycale values are under control, i think it´s a good opportunity to nail it even more, practice brushtrokes and accuracy.
As a conclusion of this post, four WIPS of redesigns of Golden Axe sega genesis sprites.
I love that contrasty 3dísh kinda of painting and i intend to explore it more.
I think it´s funny that two years later, one of my old Inktobers was used as ref for this small project haha.
as usual, solid reference paintings. I think itd be good for you to move deeper into anatomy and start thinking about the forms of the limbs youre drawing. Like in the very last picture of the axe dude, his muscles are missing a lot of potential of the forms and detail they could have, specially the rib and bicep area.
So just hit some proko vids and takesome notes about how these forms sit in space and transition, the planar structure and so on till you can make each individual limb beautiful instead of like a symbol
nice lineup, Can see the progress in brush stroke and your black and white studies are sick !is that kingdom of heaven colour study? The linestuff is rad
I think you should try going more in detail for the colour concept. They are very blocky compared to the line drawing. Dont be afraid to zoom in and add some detail, or maybe use the lasso tool and paint with broad stroke inside selection if you want to stay unzoomed . It may be lacking contrast.
@ Fedodika Yes, i´m delving once again to Andrew Loomis figure drawing to nail the fundamentals. I haven´t seen Proko for a while, i´ll pay a visit haha.
@ Balgate Yes, you´ve guessed the movie. Thanks man!
I´m bringing those concepts to a finish. Tring to give a Ryan Lang and Dice Tstutsumi colour feel.
A few colour studies to go back to colour and transitioning what i´ve learned with grasycale to colour.
Two wroks in progress, any crits are welcome! ( specially on the barbarian Golden Axe guy )
hey rick i did a little scribble to help you visualize how to push the gesture of your warrior dude. your line of action is a vertical line literally, and his limbs are like an X shape which youll want to avoid like the plague. I think you should work more on proportions because yours are pretty goofy, his calves and feet are enormous, and unnatural looking, and maybe you were going for a stylized thing but its not working with this, it seems more uncanny valley :O
Nice work on the reference studies, i think youd benefit more if you did them from memory to actually put into practice the whole host of goodies youre missing out on just copying them. You have a good eye in place too, so coming back after a memory application where you struggle to put the image back together from your mind alone, will cause you to see the holes in your knowledge immediately and this will jump your progress forward much faster!
@Fedodika I really dig the drawover, thanks man! You´re pushing the S shape. I think however the pose does not match the personality of Ax Battler from the original Golden Axe.
Awesome input mate, yeah, it was kinda uncanny valley. Bought the tutorial of Ryan Lang to understand his approach to light and shape and to avoid at all cost the uncanny valley.
Interesting approach, it´s kinda difficult but that´s the point, memory studies may help !
Gone back to the drawing board regarding Ax Battler and made two versions, one before the critique of Fedodika and a second one with his input, i like the second version more,it has that slight vibe of Frazetta.
Also, a drop out concept that i was guarding on the shelve for ages, an illustration for a kids book to put on my portfolio but that go nowhere.
Also a bunch of colour studies, not intending on being accurate with detail on them all, just block colour.
I think i still need to go back to the drawing board and refine more the shape and edge control. Also, i should go back and breakdown the brushwork in it´s simplest form, value alone, no colour.
I did another pause on my folio works to concentrate on the esssentials. Forced myself to study artists i admire and their brushwork in value; the amazing work of Igor Sid and Sangsoo Jeong, and one piece from Algenpfleger.
I think it´s helping a lot and i´m seeing some perspective i haven´t paid attention before. All the credit to them.
To push this notion further, i´ve forced myself also to pick an old shelve concept of a samurai and finish it in a short amount of time.
Also two value studies and one commission for a friend.
Studies from Igor Sid, Sangsoo Jeong and Algenpfleger ( and Jeremy but i forgot the last name :S):
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His biceps are too short, and i think his feet are too big, maybe make his katana longer it seems kinda gimp right now, liking the other artists studies too, i still think youd grow faster by not painting and studying anatomy intensely
@Fedodika Thanks for the input mate. I wasn´t seeing those flaws. Ended up going back to the samurai piece and nail the size of his biceps, yweak the size of his feet and amplify his shoulder pads. The katana was also amplified to have better readability.
I´m training anatomy traditionally but i´m not posting still as it´s a quite laborious process to digitalize it haha. I´m specially working on the hands.
Found a few flaws on the samurai piece like the values being too dark and no light value to compensate, propotionwise, worked on the composition as the previous wasn´t working at all and provided some tweaks on the background to create some context.
Probably i´m not seeing other flaws but at this point i will call the piece concluded.
i feel like her pose is really stiff, like her body is barely curved at all for such a dynamic sort of activity. Her hand thats lower is enormous and her face seems so plain and apathetic
rock climbing is very perilous and associated with accomplishment through great danger
try to show those things through thumbnail planning and research on the activity, find pictures that really show the best representation of the activity, or most theatrical.
Also from what i know parkour is more an urban thing of like jumping around roofs and walls, which is a whole different feel :)
Just to build of what Fed said a lil bit - at the moment it feels like she isn't actually holding onto anything. There's not a real sense of gravity to her so it makes it look like she's posing, rather than in the middle of a dangerous activity.
A small nitpick is to watch out for your values - her foot, pants and hand are very similar in value to the rockface that all the information gets lost. It's hard to feel the weight of a pose if we can't see her feet. It's hard to feel like she's holding onto something if we can't see what she's holding onto.
Anyways, just things to think about going forward.
