CGMythology's Sketchbook

[cgmythology]

I went ahead and did some quick color tests.  My personal favorites are A and F.  A pops the most, while F has the most harmonious colors.  I think I'll go with F or maybe combine both and get the best of both worlds, we'll see.  Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[darktiste]

I don't have much to say i just had some free time.So i tried a few thing feel free to take out anything from it.

[JosephCow]

I feel like in the last one for me it could have more drama if you had done more with perspective. It looks referenced and knowing how you usually do things I'm sure there was a reference used for it, however the picture might not have been taken at a low angle. I can see that the horizon of the picture is near the bottom, but it seems as if we are about at eye level with the cyclops. And then plus you add the somewhat separate perspective for the figure of the hero and the rock he's on and it's somewhat hard to reconcile all those different pieces.

I think it would have been exciting to see a dramatic perspective on the cyclops so he looks colossal, and puts us more into the scene from the perspective of the hero, rather than observing it from a distance. So maybe like this sketch or something? It does cover up the axe, though. 

Spoiler

 I also noticed that when winding up to strike something like that, there tends to be a lot of twist to the body, so I tried a pose more from the side. Generally what I do is take a photo or video of myself doing the action I want, with the camera at the right perspective -- on the ground if needed-- and then use that to get started. Many changes are needed to the drawing to make the right body type and lighting, but I think it really works better than using model photos online. I know a lot of people are doing this as well, so idk if that's something for you or not. Some of the giant's muscles are a little confusing anatomically, and I think some different approaches might help that aspect of your work as well.

Obviously I know you aren't going to change it at this point, this critique might have been helpful at the drawing stage, if at all lol. But i didn't see it before. But I remember someone saying something of the same thing to me about making my pose in a more dramatic angle a while back and it helped my future stuff.

[VitorCardoso]

hi, i made some notes regarding the design to add to what joseph already mentioned earlier, i think the anatomy doesn't work, the pectorals for example should hide below the deltoid

[cgmythology]

darktiste:  Great feedback and paintovers, extremely helpful as always.  I incorporated your feedback on  both images as well and I feel they're improved significantly as a result, so thanks again!

JosephCow:  Agreed on all fronts.  Regarding references, the poses were referenced, but no much the environment (I believe the mountains on the right were referenced, the volcano and platform the figure is standing on was not).  The paintover you did was fantastic, looks very dynamic and I might create something with a similar perspective to that in the future.  I just updated the giant image a bit but I'm overall unsatisfied with it, so I won't include it in my portfolio for the time being.  With that said you gave some great feedback so I'll definitely incorporate it in the future when I tackle a similar concept!

VictorCardoso:  Great input for the figure, I agree about the foreshortening as well.  I'll keep this in mind for future work as that would be very beneficial for me I think!

.................

Thanks for all the feedback guys, really appreciate it.  Regarding the 'Giant', I updated it a bit but I'm overall unsatisfied with the image overall and consider it a failure... Just didn't come out the way I wanted it to.  With that said, I will tackle this concept again as I had a blast with it and apply what I learned from the feedback I received to a future piece.  Here is the final update on the giant for those interested:





Next up I finished the Sub-Zero image.  Pretty pleased with it overall.  Any final input would be welcome so if something is majorly off please feel free to let me know!  Below is the current preview followed by the steps for those interested:

[JosephCow]

hey no problem glad it helps. your last piece looks awesome, nice job!

[cgmythology]

JosephCow:  Thanks, glad to hear it!

...................

I think I'm going to be focusing a bit on portrait work as I'm tackling some complex illustrations for various clients, so doing something simple on the side that I enjoy I feel is the best way to go about it while avoiding burnout.  

I finished up a sketch of 'Jade' from the 'Mortal Kombat' series.  For the face, I tried to capture the likeness of actress Tati Gabrielle who will be portraying her in the upcoming movie.  Overall I was very satisfied with the sketch so I went ahead and proceeded with some quick color tests.  

My favorite by far is 'A', I feel it pops the most which is important for a piece like this.  I'm open to hearing suggestions or any feedback on the sketch/color tests, so please feel free to let me know what you feel works best!  Below is the sketch and color tests.

[attachment=128827]


[attachment=128828]

[cgmythology]

JosephCow:  Thanks, glad to hear it!

...................

I think I'm going to be focusing a bit on portrait work as I'm tackling some complex illustrations for various clients, so doing something simple on the side that I enjoy I feel is the best way to go about it while avoiding burnout.  

I finished up a sketch of 'Jade' from the 'Mortal Kombat' series.  For the face, I tried to capture the likeness of actress Tati Gabrielle who will be portraying her in the upcoming movie.  Overall I was very satisfied with the sketch so I went ahead and proceeded with some quick color tests.  

My favorite by far is 'A', I feel it pops the most which is important for a piece like this.  I'm open to hearing suggestions or any feedback on the sketch/color tests, so please feel free to let me know what you feel works best!  Below is the sketch and color tests.

[cgmythology]

I finished up the painting process.  It was pretty straight forward and it didn't take as long as I anticipated.  I'm pretty pleased with it overall.  There's still time for tweaking and such if necessary, so if something feels off please feel free to let me know.  Below is the current progress followed by some steps for those interested.

[darktiste]

I think your skin are reaching a realistic level that good new i hope the video suggestion had a little role in that.

My only little note would be that you could have referenced the hand a little more.But i also don't see why you would i just think it always what is the least rendered you get judge the most on... and i already say in the past that not everything as to be rendered to the same render level why i make this comment is more toward good form is what can make less rendering work i feel like.

I can see that you play with edge here to create where you want the eye to look at so great job on that if that was completely deliberate

[cgmythology]

darktiste:  Thank you, glad to hear that!  I guess the hand could be a bit more refined, hopefully it's not too distracting!

...............

Time for a new painting!  I had this image in mind for quite some time, a portrait of Hera.  I spent a lot of time on this one especially in regards to the character design and I'm overall pleased with it.  Any input would be appreciated, will begin work on some color tests shortly!

[cgmythology]

Finished up some color tests.  My personal favorite is the last one, F, and it's not even close, so I will be developing that one!

[darktiste]

It would be nice to see a bit more 3/4 view pose i feel like at this point you are looking to avoid doing similar thing but i mean if those piece are not to push yourself i understand if you prefer what you are comfortable with when you just need to relax for a change.But the problem is that between client work you gotta think that it probably more the time to experiment that in client project which is a more risky thing to do.So really in the grand scheme of thing there is little space for to much repetitiveness if you are unhappy with some of your fundamental.Obviously every decision can end up being a preference that help you develop a personal style so it as to be ''deliberate'' not just out of comfort

It weird that you don't take the time to add a color to eye it where the viewer look first that just how we are.

I think a side lighting would be ideal if what she about to do is betray someone else if she about to idk use that blade for a blood sacrifice let say i think a more back light and light from the bottom light would be interesting.

Personally prefer D it the one that would fit those idea i am sharing.

Btw the hand look good but the left arm upper part seem to be inexistent we can see the shape suggested by the cloth but it look a bit odd that it doesn't seem to connect to the torso also this make the other arm look unusually long did you draw the body before drawing the cloth? If not maybe just make sure thing make sense under there before deciding on cloth.Also her elbow should affect how the cloth goes down it should fall down directly where it fall of the arm a cape open up like you did because it drag across the floor that why it open up like that i say that because i just don't know i am not the one who understand what going on outside the frame so something it hard to give critic when there thing out of frame affecting the scene.

A detail you could add to make your hand a just a bit next level is the little wrinkle where the finger bend.

Also a comment on line weight is to think about the light direction have thinner line where the light is hitting and bold line in the shadow side this can help the form less flat if you make your line art to even it can contribute to the overall thing look flat even if you have different line size.

[cgmythology]

Darktiste:  Great points, I'll be sure to do more quarter views to challenge myself more.  I agree that side lighting would work well so I went with that as well.  Great point regarding the lighting for the line weight, I'll be sure to consider that when sketching in the future!  Thanks for your input as always.

..................

I finished up the painting.  Everything went fairly smoothly thankfully and I'm fairly pleased with the painting.  Of course there's still time to make changes if needed, so if something is majorly off please feel free to let me know.  Below is the current preview followed by the steps for those interested.

[cgmythology]

Time for a new illustration! I'm in the mood to paint something Boris Vallejo-ish as I haven't done that in quite a while, so I created a sketch based on some figures from Grafit Studio.  Pretty pleased with how the sketch turned out overall, and I think I'll begin work on some color tests soon... but until then please feel free to let me know any input as I prefer doing corrections early in the process, just makes the painting process easier for me and can save a lot of time!  Below is the current sketch:

[darktiste]

For a believability stand point the boot should not have laces but since you added dragon it really up to you personally since it a fantasy setting i think it would be cool to see is feet in sandal.The wrapping you do tend to return to being flat and no showing volume which is something i tend to come back and point out.An other thing that bother me is the tangente of the boot of the female warrior and the rock.The sword leak imagination i think i would rather see a two handed sword pose for a change.Great job on the 3/4 pose the barbarian pose look a bit of balanced when you put someone behind an other character it hard to guess how the weight is distributed i feel like is left foot would be at a slight angle toward the viewer and we would see more of the knee meaning we would see the muscle also shift a bit but i understand it for directing the eye so i just want to share this for the future so you can try to avoid overlap that can cause confusion.

[cgmythology]

darktiste:  Great input as always!  Made some changes to the linework based on your input, hopefully it works better now!

............

I refined the sketch a bit and proceeded with some color tests.  I think most of them work fairly well, it's gonna be hard to pick one but I'd love to hear what you feel works best, so please feel free to let me know your input!  Going to call it a day for now and take a fresh look at the color tests tomorrow morning, hopefully I'll be more decisive then!

[darktiste]

For me it F but the skin color of the male need to be adjusted to account for more of the ambiant light toward cold tone.For the leather i might try an other color or desaturated a little i don't think color of the boot of the women should really constrast with the rock as much as they are right now.For the dragon i think a red color would pop them a little bit obviously them being alot less near the ground the would get less ambiant light but they would receive a nice rim light

[cgmythology]

darktiste:  F is a great choice, but ultimately I went with E which is pretty similar (I felt the colors popped a bit more there).  I went with red for the dragons as well as they pop against the cooler background as well.  Thanks for your input as always!

..............

Decided to go with E after giving it much thought.  I felt it's the most colorful and I also wanted to avoid a warm palette as that's a bit overdone with my work.  The image is still fairly early but I'm fairly pleased with how it's developing, below is the current progress:

[cgmythology]

I resumed work on the painting and it's pretty much finished.  Pretty pleased with it overall.  I'm still open to any final input should anything major be off, so please feel free to let me know!  Below is the current progress followed by the steps for those interested.