Joseph's shiny new sketchbook

[JosephCow]

I'm doin another challenge this time winter themed. Supposed to be a take on an ice elemental. This is what I have so far.

[darktiste]

I think you should go back and do multiple thumnnailing that if you have the time... .The creature readability is good for the claw and wing but kinda abstract for the head.I find the elemental to be to much like an ice sculpture it should have energy(movement) in my opinion

It would be the same challenge with let say an earth elemental how would it gain the elemental nature it not just made out of stone or just unanimated dirt it a living thing.If you want example of elemental i suggest you look at game such as D&D or warcraft but if you want sometime more realistic you will need to tone it down a bit for sure.Adding aura and particule effect to help it stand out from the already icy decor i would like to think this what would help you.

[JosephCow]

hmm I'm conflicted, because I don't disagree with you at all. You're right.

But it's also very much intended to be like an abstract ice sculpture, not like something you'd see in D&D or the 'traditional' ice elemental. It's like a different take on the idea, following the prompt (it's for an Istebrak challenge). But even so maybe it falls flat.

[JosephCow]

finished another figure drawing...

This one I think I learned a lot with from the modelling, which I think actually works better than the longer cast drawing I've nearly finished. The pose is a little uninteresting. It's hard to keep the gesture and flow of something while also analyzing it this much. Fortunately i think this will be the last drawing I will need to render tightly in this way, possibly ever!

[Zizka]

The shading on that last one is just yummy!!! Wow, wow, wow.

[JosephCow]

Thanks!

[JosephCow]

here's how the ice bird picture ended up. It was a fun stream i really liked doing it. I actually don't really love this painting, the feedback was that the ice was pretty good, but the background was kinda too dark and murky for snow. sunset/sunrise didn't really read due to lack of long shadows which is a really good point. 




Finished this fall semester today, here's some of my recent drawings. The past three months have been practically entirely focused on modeling form, and I'm actually quite pleased I've figured a lot out. I definitely am nowhere near mastering it but at least I am in a place where I have started to understand some fundamental things and I can improve with practice.

[one_two]

These new drawings look really nice!

[JosephCow]

thanks 1,2!

I'm planning my next picture. I was scrolling through old photos and I came across probably my first ever finished illustration done in 2015. It's a guy in a suit of armour defending a woman who is passed out from a group of snake/dragons. 

The architecture in the background and everything is so boring, I immediately wanted to try a paint over, but I think it just needs a better composition. So I replaced the snakes with an enormous amphisbaena, added more knights and changed that pink glow to like an infernal fire that they are leaving in their wake. It makes it slightly more urgent to have stuff on fire.

It's pretty rough, not sure if I really have the skill to paint all this complicated stuff, but even the rough sketch I think is better to look at.

[Pubic Enemy]

I agree that the new sketch is much more interesting and exciting. The burninating is great and the sense of perspective is strong. The vaulted ceiling is much cooler too.

[_spec]

Your school work is very impressive! love ur ability to accurately nail form and light with those

[JosephCow]

Workin out the drawing of this composition. I'm kind of nervous to paint the interior and the fire in this piece, those things really aren't my forte. I don't know what my forte is exactly, but I don't think it's that.

[CBinnsIllustration]

Can’t wait to see what you do with this one, the rough sketch looks great and has the right mix of doom and gloom.

[JosephCow]

Can’t wait to see what you do with this one, the rough sketch looks great and has the right mix of doom and gloom.

Thanks! Emphasis on the doom.

[darktiste]

Can’t wait to see what you do with this one, the rough sketch looks great and has the right mix of doom and gloom.

Thanks! Emphasis on the doom.

In that case i think i would lower the celling and even remove the sense of there being escape route in the background.I would even probaly change the camera angle to be lower down so they feel more dominated. Right now they almost look on equal footing. One idea i would have played around would be the idea of having the group back against a wall but yea there many camera and lightning angle that could increase the overall mood your are looking for.Maybe corpse on the floor or petrifiy people turn into statue getting smash by the collosal strenght of the basilisk charge.I don't feel like you aren't to far down to improve the composition and dynamism of the story telling.

[JosephCow]

My idea with the camera angle was that it sort of mirrors the original picture which also had kind of a weird high camera angle. But when rotated behind the protagonist, it's more the kind of camera you'd see in a 3rd person fighting game, like the Witcher 3 or something. So it's that kind of point of view where you are looking down into the action. The scribble to the left is where I am going to place the girl, unconscious, and the door in the back I was thinking helps explain how the monster got in in the first place. So the general movement, or path of the composition is coming from the bottom left, snaking backward in space to the door.

Of course there could be better ways to paint this picture, but that's just my thought process on what I've composed here.

[cgmythology]

Love the new sketch, huge improvement in regards to the composition especially. Maybe the expressions on the creatures could be a bit more ominous looking to add to the mood? Keep up the great work!

[JosephCow]

Thanks! I had the same thought actually, the monster's head just wasn't that interesting, I had to look at some references and not just draw generic snake shape. I made the further head still look a little dumb though, I think it's kind of cute that way, like the poor guy's just being dragged around by his angry brother.

I still have a lot of stuff to do on it but I've done a lot. I think i have most everything pretty solidly established, so the difficult part is done.

[cgmythology]

That's looking quite incredible already, loving the colors and lighting established. The armor is incredibly convincing as well, very well done! Great start indeed!

[CBinnsIllustration]

Nice!, there are so many things you got going on in this that i love.  The armor is lovely but my favorite part, and it might sound silly, is the banners in the background burning, such a small part but so convincing and well done. I see your reasoning for making one of the heads look a little derpy, and i love that, but i would hate to think makes things a little too comical and take away from the nice classical fantasy piece you have going here. Well done and keep up the great work