So not sure how far i'll be able to go with this due to lack of skill and also because i'm moving currently so lifes hectic(and I might have to go a few weeks without internet) but...fuck it, it's bloodborne, I can't pass it up XD.
Got barely any experience in creature design so it's an interesting challenge for me, I also have'nt really been able to draw any full pieces on paper in my life, only characters and stuff floating in the endless void of space.
Anyway I went with option 3, I really loved ludwigs design from the dlc so i'm trying to go for the same sorta horse like look he had, i'm gonna try and draw his head and body in a side and front view first so I can get a good idea of what to do, also since most of the monsters in bloodborne are techincally mutated, i'm trying to start from a human skull for the design and exaggerate it(did so with the top side view).
also as well as bloodborne ref i'd highly reccomend using the necromorphs from dead space, which are very exaggerated mutant humans as well. http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/dead...-prefix=de http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/dead...1129033152
My lack of traditional compositional skills can be seen here haha, I have the ideas down in my head(which were hard enough) but I could'nt get them drawn down loosely on the page.
(04-05-2016, 04:16 PM)Triggerpigking Wrote: So not sure how far i'll be able to go with this due to lack of skill
Don't even say that! If you like the theme then do as much as you can, it's all for your improvement not for the glory of the winner :)
Exaaaaactly---!!!
Mate! Don't start something with low vibes -- always give everything 100%, no matter what :D
And also, I mean, exactly - it's Bloodborne!!
Gonna be cool to see where you take option 3 buddy, I can see your ideas shining through already, so go get it --!
sketchbook | pg 52
"Not a single thing in this world isn't in the process of becoming something else." I'll be back - it's an odyssey, after all
You can do this! I learned a lot the last challenge, it totally worth it to give it your all even if you are not able to finish it. Working to a full illustration, putting all those perspective studies in practice, it is worth it!
Thanks guys, honestly though I was'nt trying to imply a self defeating attitude with that comment xD, drawing this is really fun(how could it not be it's bloodborne lol) so i'm trying to give it my all regardless of if I can produce a finished piece or not.
Anyway I ditched using charcoal for the thumbnails, thought it might allow me to be more loose with it but using a stick of charcoal like that ended up being difficult in itself let alone trying to focus on design as well, so I did the next 6 in pencil.
I've also started working on various designs for the face in side view though i've not finished the page yet so i'll upload it next time.
Anyway here's the thumbnails.
Sorry for the bad quality, can't scan a3 paper, that could be an issue if I need to draw the final piece on a3 actually..but eh i'll deal with that issue when I come to it haha.
I think no4 has a good setup for an action like scene though i'm not sure what i'd draw in the background.
I like no5 a lot and it'd allow me to use some of this perspective studying to the test(though i've yet to get to building drawing in it yet) however it'd take a lot of detail away from the creature itself.
No6 I was thinking of drawing in a sewer, it'd allow for some claustrophobia and interesting lighting, plus victorian sewers are pretty amazingly made, however it's a pretty static image action wise I think.
No7 eh really not sure about this one, the animal is smaller scale and it'd mean ditching drawing the face and most of the creature itself would be in shadow, though the mob surrounding it makes for an interesting composition I think, the creatures in bloodborne are usually pretty sympathetic as well so it'd be an interesting angle to take.
No8, think it's a good idea but i'm not sure about the composition
No9 Pretty much just no7 from a different angle, once again not to sure of the composition I was running out of ideas by this point I think.
No10 once again pretty simple composition but that could be a good thing, plus drawign a graveyard could be interesting.
Whichever one I choose i'll probbly do a few more based around that composition. Not to sure which one I like the most atm though, mainly picking between 4,5,6,8.
Hey man, good start! 5 is cool, i like that he is on a church roof i guess for context, but the image has to be in landscape 16:9 aspect ratio. Convert it to that and see how it goes.
7 has potential too for us to see the disgusted terrified reactions to the creature. You will increase the challenge by having to depict multiple figures well. Putting things in shadow is fine as long as you construct it so the context of Oulz comes across. Always make sure to choose and emphasise lighting schemes that would help the illustration become more successful. If his face is needed, then find a way to light the face such as a dead villager under him with a torch on the ground casting light onto his face. Use narrative to the piece's benefit. Think of it in cinematic terms, constructed like a movie screencap. Might be good to do some studies along those lines, for comps.
Honestly lot of these thumbs can work. 4 has a sense of discovery and terror moment., So don't listen to me based on the ones I mentioned, on what choice thumb to make, make sure you make that decision yourself. Too many opinions don't always help you pick. This is a keyframe shot, emphasis should be on showing a key moment in your narrative, it's not outright creature design, although obviously the design will be important and getting the idea across of Oulz as a mutated priest thing will be context you have to think about. I would recommend choosing a few of those potential ideas and doing a bit more work on them to see if you can make them better before settling on a final comp
Just my 2 cents. Out of the four compositions you picked out, I like 6 the most. I love it when the camera is set high up looking down or set low looking up. I'm not saying the other ones you picked were bad. They're actually good. If you're having a hard time deciding which one to pick, try moving your camera around the scene you cooked up. Compositions 4,5,6 and 8 all have different stories to tell. Which one of them are you itching to tell the most?
If you are reading this, I most likely just gave you a crappy crit! What I'm basically trying to say is, don't give up! ---- IG: @thatpuddinhead
Amit Dutta:Thanks dude, also did'nt know about the landscape requirement, thought it just had to be that size as a rectangle, about the movie stills, I looked around a bit but could'nt find anything that'd be a good study for something like this, do you know of any movies with a similair feeling that I could probably get screencaps from?, only ones that come to mind for me are sleepy hollow.
John:Cheers man, yeah no6 has grown on me a lot too, once i've picked one i'll probably do a few more variations of it.
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Ok i'm gonna try and draw 4 more fleshed out drawings of 4,6, 7, 10. Personally i'm leaning more towards 4,6.
5 did'nt work out when I tried to redraw it in landscape so i'm ditching that, though I really liked it so maybe i'll revisit the idea at some point, I might do the same with 7 as well since I really enjoy that one but I want to be able to draw Oulz face.
Also thinking about doing some quick studies of a few artists so I could get a better feel down in the final piece specifically thinking about Kentaro Miura's (the author berserk which both souls and bloodborne take inspiration from) style and Junji Ito who practically is the modern H.P Lovecraft XD.
Did some studies and application, I was'nt sure how to get across that he's a former priest especially since in game the creatures(barring Amelia who still has a pretty holy vibe to her design) are all so messed up that they show no signs of their former selves, so with no4 I tried to wrap the remains of the church garb from the game around him, i'm thinking I could add the priest hunter badge as a necklace around him as well but i'm not sure which of the badges it'd be.
Anyway yeah i'm going for design 4, I really liked the idea of that one such as the blood soaked fur growing on him, i'm gonna lay over some tracing paper and do some variations on it though.
Dude, that top left priest in the last sketch will give me nightmares...
In terms of moviecaps, I was thinking more general in terms of comp, but if you are going for period horror, yeah, sleepy hollow or anything else along those lines. Brotherhood of the wolf, brothers grim, red riding hood, the village, even the crow although it isn't period . It's more theme, mood and comp than trying to find directly relateable genres though. Inspiration can come from anywhere really.
Lol, do you mean the studies or the sketches I did? the one right above is a study of a necromorph from dead space.
If you mean the design sketches then yeah I based that one mainly on necromorphs, it's cool but I think the other ones are more similair to bloodbornes beasts, I might try and incorperate more of it into the final design though because they are creepy as hell.
About the moviecaps yeah I just can't think of many movies that would give good comps for this specific type of scene though, which is why i'm going to do more studies on stuff that'd fit the atmosphere of the scene, thinking about it if i'm doing studies of berserk i could probably look that for compositions as well.
American werewolf in london I think could be a good one though my memory of that film is'nt too good so maybe i'm wrong, but i'll take any excuse to rewatch the crow again XD.
Another update, i've tried to put some focus onto designing the villagers, these are just the studies but i'm working on the application part atm.
Also the updated lineart for no4, I tried to move the creature closer and I think it makes for a much more awesome and dramatic scene, still need to draw over this with value. I'm gonna try and speed them up actually, only got 10 days and I want to do 3 more updated comps before I decide on one. I also need to draw a side view of the whole creature, really confused about what i'm gonna do with the rest of the anatomy though.
Also added my ref sheet so far if you guys are interested.
I thought about it but I don't think it'd work given that they've run across this thing and are running away.
I'm gonna try and start on the final piece tommorow, i'd like to do more studies for it and i'm not paticularly prepared but the crucibles almost over.
Anyway just did some designs for the villagers, I did some other stuff like some construction studies for the final piece but they did'nt turn out to well.
My final piece, came out better then I expected it to, I had to make up the background as I went along though as I did'nt have the time to do studies for it.
It's mainly the values that were difficult for me here, did'nt have good control over them, even so i'm happy with it.
So your CC2's wip really g'd me up when I saw what you were studying and whipping up! I liked that you went a different route with your Oulz design in the end... even though it may not have hit the nail on the head for a Bloodborne beast in the very end
I did a thing, I hope you don't mind
... It's quite different to your original final -- and for that reason it's fine if you just straight up disregard my two cents
But here goes anyways:
What I feel holds your final keyframe back a bit - is that the composition is a bit too static. I mean honestly, disregarding the paintover and lookin' at your piece > this could've been fixed if you put more consideration into the background architecture (like I mentioned in your sketchbook), it doesn't really fit the feel of Bloodborne- also, I mean, Trigger... maaaaaaaaaaaate... I've seen the How To Draw studies you've been pumping out in your sketchbook. I just know you can do a lot better <3 <3 this challenge could have been a fantastic way to apply what you've been learning. You don't have to do it all from imagination either, pull some refs up if you get stuck, or my personal favourite thing to do > if you hit a wall while working on something, literally go and study that thing you're having trouble with and then get back into the piece, so that you're applying the knowledge directly.
Ok, so yeah, my paintover was done in PS, so I can't really talk shit lol, but making a great pencil illustration isn't the hardest thing... if you plan it out methodically. I saw that you made thumbs for your comp -- that's great! But what'd you do after that? You did studies, which is great too! However, I feel if you added just one more (read: crucial) step before you got into your final, I reckon your piece would've turned out baws---!
What? You ask lol you didn't ask who am i kidding?
Rendering out a thumbnail as best as you can and exactly how you want your final to look. This is where you pull out all the stops to make sure this thumbnail looks bomb. Try different things, make sure you get your values to read well, etc. Do multiple little thumbs until you get the right one >:o ! Make it your mission.
Quick draw! (bullet point time)
* pencil strokes are just like brush strokes. stroke by stroke you are building form. difference being, you only have one brush size. therefore it is important you use line direction to your advantage. start with a lighter stroke and gradually fill an area, then go over it with the same weight, to build values. ofc application x experimentation is needed for better understanding.
*changed comp for more storytelling + enhance grandiose/menacing stature of beast. as well as fixing static composition in a way other than just changing background. Rule of thirds works rather well in the paint over
*if you ever feel unsure about value/composition readability > posterize layer to simplify values to 1-4 shades.
*added teeth to make a little more Bloodborne? Idk. going for creepy there. for the most part I wanted to keep your original design ~
*crazy arms for composition purposes/more Bloodborne-y
* focal point on (hard to read because quick paintover) old man shining lamp on huge-ass beast. he's blind as a bat and can't figure out what those sharp yellowy things are before him...
*guy on right's clothing looked more modern than Victorian/Gothic-era
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Alrighty, I think that's all the thought-spew I've got atm
But yeah! Major props for challenging yourself in the Crucible, Trigger! Please, keep going hard and don't be afraid of changing things when they don't look right in an illustration. Even if it's near the end, because that's what clients would want and all that ;) (*cough*yeahlikeIcantalklmaougggghh*cough*)
I hope that at least a smidge of this helped you out buddy <3
o/
sketchbook | pg 52
"Not a single thing in this world isn't in the process of becoming something else." I'll be back - it's an odyssey, after all
Firstly thanks a ton for the indepth crit, I don't usually get them :).
It's interesting that you don't like the composition though, amiit and piotr actually said it had some of the better action of them, I like it myself though I think the values and my perspective held it back from my original idea, I wanted it to all be mostly dark(but not pitch black) barring the light on the creatures face and the two people but i'm terrible at values and could'nt shade it correctly either, I also did'nt think the lantern in the final piece was close enough to his face so I toned it down, I probbly should've just exaggerated the lighting from that though.
About the pencil strokes, yep trying to get better at that currently :), i have a bad habit of drawing loads of lines before thinking about how to place them, this piece is actually what got me to start trying to think more about my lines and take up the dynamic sketching excercises.
About the perspective stuff yeah..i actually did'nt do any studies for that background I was'nt sure what to do with it up till the final piece and in the end just had to throw together a few builidings midway through the piece 2 hours or so before the deadline so that's why I did'nt apply much of the scott robertson stuff XD, I actually planned to set it in a graveyard, the right guys coat was a tattered one that I thought would fit a gravedigger it looks like shabby victorian clothing to me in the refsheet but I think I had trouble conveying it's design for the final peice.
This is also why I did'nt have any architecture ref on that ref sheet, to busy panicking to get it done in time XD.
the second light as well was also just improvised at the last moment.
I also have a lot of issues trying to figure out organic forms in perspective, paticularly diagonal forms that don't go towards the vanishing point, the creatures body also confused the hell out of me, I could'nt even simplify it correctly.
Good idea on the posterize layer idea, can I do that out of photoshop though since I no longer have a subscription to it, I am gonna try a 1-4 value study of the next piece I do for crucible though, I tried to do a full range value thumbnail for this and that mixed with my lack of understanding of the forms made it terrible.
Oh and i'll try that rendering thumbnail idea as well, I think my issues here then where defineitly perspective, value and a big lack of planning in certain areas such as the thumbnails.
Once again thanks a ton for taking the time to give such a great critique :).
I did like your comp man > just feel if you added more visual interest, like if you went ahead with the graveyard idea, that would've been sick :D
If anything I admit I overshot the paintover this time. I should've worked with the original comp but I got carried away like a little biatch <3
Aaaah, for the posterize layer... I believe gimp has the same adjustment mode? Just make sure you put a black and white filter on before you add the posterize layer http://phantaris.com/how-to-posterize-layers-with-gimp
You'll totally get there with your pencils, it's all about time now, 'cause you got the consistency goin'!
Yeah I reckon some observation studies of things lying around the house will help with your pencil rendering. Seriously helped me out, which in turn helped me see values better, etc.
I'm glad you found some of my pointers useful though man, happy to have helped, even if a little bit <3 o/
sketchbook | pg 52
"Not a single thing in this world isn't in the process of becoming something else." I'll be back - it's an odyssey, after all
To reiterate, the comp was just ok (could be improved, but simple enough to work) but it was the feeling of a clear narrative action moment which is what I was talking about really.
What really broke things was the lack of correct perspective and not having a bolder more constructed value structure. This is what you should be addressing in your thumbnails rather than just line drawing floating characters alone. Now you should see where you end up when you don't address the big problems up front. If you're learning the How to Draw stuff...USE it! Work smarter, not harder.
:)
Keep it going...and smrr, great stuff with the helps mate!
Yeah, like Amit said, it wasn't the comp that we complimented you on but the narrative - how well you communicated the action. Smrr definitely provided a better perspective shot, so you could probably adjust it to fit your vision better :)
