CGMythology's Sketchbook

[Lunatique]

Personally, I'm not a big fan of casting a face in shadow and then just have the light hit the tip of the nose, like on that female character. I try to avoid it in both photography and in artworks, because it tends to fragment the face too much and draws too much attention to the nose. When I see it in other people's work, it's always jarring. Even in cases where I want a moody/creepy/mysterious look, I avoid highlighting just the tip of the nose.

[cgmythology]

darktiste:  Great feedback!  Made some changes to the image and also implemented the effect you mentioned for the eyes, which makes them really stand out.  Thank you for that suggestion!

Lunatique:  Oh no?  I actually like that effect, gives it a very realistic and slightly unsettling look.  It would depend on the mood you're going for I guess, but I feel having her shaded like that helps keep her in shadow and puts more emphasis on Hades, which is to my benefit I think.  I guess it's a matter of personal preference as I really enjoy that lighting setup, but thank you for your input regardless!

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Went ahead and updated the Hades illustration.  I'm calling it done for now as I'm pleased with it and ready to move on to new material.  Thanks to everyone who gave me their feedback on the image, it's a much better illustration because of it so I'm very grateful.  Here is the final:




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Next up is a quick movie study I did from a still from 'Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'.  I'm a huge fan of the art direction in the trilogy so it was a lot of fun to study from:




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Finally I'm starting on a new personal illustration.  I posed for the figure myself for this one to help me visualize the pose as well as to study light, figured working this way would be more ideal than doing movie still studies although I'll be doing those as well for study purposes.  

I'm pretty happy with the sketch overall, but I just wanted to hear any input before I begin painting it in, so if something feels off or perhaps could be improved I'd be more than happy to hear any suggestions!  

Here is the sketch:

[darktiste]

That handle is simply ridiculously unpractical almost no gripping space and the shape with shape edge not necessary sometime you want to have to hold on during combat. Where the guard of the sword or dagger? I suppose you choose not to add one for presentation purpose?

Also it seem the pommel is at different angle as the blade.The blade is facing toward us more than the pommel because of where we can find the center line of the blade. I can spot that there a difference between those two object axis also because of the way the ellipse are represented just like a toilet paper roll we would see more of the inside as we tilt it toward us.

My advise try to come up with a new dagger design that atleast address the pommel issue.

[cgmythology]

darktiste:  Great points, definitely could have benefit from putting more thought into the structure of the sword before going crazy with the detail work.  I went ahead and updated it, hopefully it looks more natural now!

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Updated the sketch based on the input received.  Made the hands a bit larger and completely refined the sword, please let me know if it looks better now:


Edit:  Fixed a minor issue with the grip.

[darktiste]

The handle is still hard to understand is the handle curve? Why does it seem so thick? . I see the choose of simplifying the sword sheath but i think it was unnecessary decision only the handle had readability issue and perhaps design issue the sheath only ''negative point i feel is that it was a bit leaking in symmetry which i feel can help sell it being a sword.

I feel like your design choose need a bit more reference to make sense but also understanding the function and reason of different handle type would help you understand what make for good design. For example why a great sword as a larger handle than a short sword if you can't really justify your design decision your ruin chance that it will be plausible to make the viewer believe it can fit in certain universe.

As artist my philosophy is not to only draw but to cultivate my curiosity on different topic learning about them to inform my decision during the design process. It specially true if you do illustration that are not from other people intellectual propriety where content as been somewhat taken care of when it come to design decision but since you do your own thing it good that you adopt somewhat the philosophy of a concept artist to a certain degree.

[calebartist]

I'm inspired to no one these are incredible! Just my 0.02 the Hades illustration needs a little room to breathe if that makes sense. I think the composition could use a bit more space above the characters (extending the canvas or moving tem slightly down) but It's drawn better than I could possibly hope to.

There are a few things id fix though if you'd accept my food for thought, the toes lack a sense of cartilage/bony areas on Hades himself on the foot he's resting on his knee, and his forehead could be elongated a little, as well as some more open space in the top of the composition to give them room to breathe, balancing areas of rest and areas of detail is very important, as well as placement though you're much more skilled than me. Sorry! I know you said it's final, I just can feel in my bones it's ~1% away from true greatness. 


Anyways, loving the art and thanks so much for dropping by my sketchbook earlier

[cgmythology]

darktiste:  Thanks for your  input.  I wanted the handle to appear powerful so that was a bit intentional, hopefully it's not too impractical.  Went ahead and painted it in, let me know if it looks more natural now with color and shading applied! 

calebartist:  Thank you kindly!  Great input on Hades as well.  If I ever go back to revising it I'll definitely apply your feedback, great stuff!


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Went ahead and painted the image in.  Everything went pretty smoothly as I had a strong idea of the colors I would be incorporating before I began.  I also experimented more with color variation and texture work than I usually do, as opposed to a smoother approach typically associated with my work as I'm aiming for a bit more of a painterly vibe.  Overall I'm quite pleased with the image.

Of course there's still time for refinement if needed, so if something feels 'off' kindly let me know and I'll do my best to refine it further.  Below is the current progress followed by the steps for those interested:

[darktiste]

Both the thumb look more and more weird the longer i look at them. Anatomy not my strongest point but i just know it off. The end of the thumb is just not that round. You basically draw the thumb almost like you should be drawing the big toe.Pretty sure it not the first time i mention those weird thumb.

[cgmythology]

darktiste:  Good catch!  Just fixed the issue hopefully, let me know!

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I did some very minor adjustments on the image, made the thumbs more natural looking and also toned down the shadows a bit overall as they were too dark for my liking.  Hopefully it's an improvement.  I think this call this one done for now:





Next up I began work on a new sketch.  I had this theme in mind for quite some time so I was very happy to sketch it out.  I didn't have a direct reference for this one, rather I studied a bunch of photos with a similar pose to get it right which hopefully I did, so please let me know any input before I begin the painting process!  Here is the current sketch:

[darktiste]

The wrapping of the hand around the sword look weak. The cloak look a little high. From the way the hair move it doesn't make sense how the cloak is. Right not it like it floating behind her instead of wrapping around the shoulder. I know for sure that the ear isn't that close to the horse eye as i studied a bit of animal anatomy as i was thinking of becoming a creature designer. 

I would try to rework the foreground  and try to get rid of that smoke otherwise it might end up looking very 2 dimensional because of how much thing align in space. One other advise going forward is maybe try to not go with all those extreme dynamic angle this way it gonna be easier to find reference and combine but it will also help you because drawing foreshorten for subject matter that is not familiar is increasing difficult and time consuming over time you get back to more dynamic artwork. That the down side of combining reference you have to do more study but the end result is just more dynamic because you don't get lock by the pose of those dynamic reference and you can add more to them then let say just add 10%.