Crimson Daggers — Art forum

Wow, so much new stuff! Those movie studies really seemed to help you out a lot with the lighting and color side of things. The application after those was really nice!

Your environments are killer, just like Warburton said. A lot of those comps you've got are all looking so good, the idea behind all of them are really intriguing. The one with the shrine is my personal favorite. That ship in the harbor is one of the best things I've seen you do, great step up! :]

That white cape series looks pretty cool man, love the progression. Still think you're a bit too hasty with some of these shapes though man, just sit and design them for awhile. Remember that Eytan video, except take even longer. Make sure you have all that subtle variation of masses, you seem to spread out a bit to evenly, especially stuff like lighting on trees, so concentrate on clumping up things into larger shapes. If you're going to scribble at least make sure the scribble has a defined shape and gesture you know. Just because its a thumbnail doesn't mean it should be fast or messy.

Still, face temples are super cool. Keep working hard man, its paying off.

Some of these enviros are really turning out well, loving how you are applying all that study knowledge into them, and also loving those material studies, you rendered a lot of them accurately.

I love the scene with the ship, it's really breathtaking man! that's the kind of stuff that's in my head but am not able to put down yet. Would be really cool to see your 3D bases for some of those environments.

You're freaking awesome man! Don't forget it : )

Don't loose your sketchbooks! D: Or at least write your name/address/number in it so that someone who finds it can contact you..
I feel like your lifedrawings are getting better. Can't really nail it down but I think it's structure, lines, values... so everything basically that's improving :P

The 3d enviro could use a bit more contrast (levels adjustment) I think... Pushing the shadow areas back a bit (also in level of detail/importance) and bringing out the lit areas. You're getting a lot better at creating interesting moods, but I often feel like you could push it just a tiny bit more. Composition is pretty cool though. Nice light/dark layering and diagonals and stuff :)

Great updates! Sure made up for your busy weeks. The orb studies look really interesting. How are you doing them?

Thanks Archreux :)

Skeptical, WHY YOU GOTTA BE SO ACCURATE IN YOUR CRITS. I have been trying to focus on that this week a lot more. Struggling though. Not sure why..

Egbu: Thanks :) Material studies are suuupppper important so I want to do it well!

Jyonny: I'll definitely post up the 3D base next time I do one so that you can see what I start with.

Lyraina: I foundz it :D It was still in the same place I went the next time I went there :) Thanks for the crit. I'll keep it in mind for next time.

Meat: the orbs are just done in photoshop. Using the same orb over and over, but changing the colour/reflectivity and texture depending on the material.

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Alright, so bit of a lapse between updates again. Damn weekends being filled up for me.

Not gonna lie, I had a few struggle spots. Gotta give a shout out to Lyraina for helping me through those.

I think I need a day off @.@ getting soo tired. But at the end of the month I will be going to the blue mountains for a few days! Which should be fun and hopefully give me some good reference pics, and maybe I'll try and do some sketches.


All in all not really happy with how I've been going, gotta work harder >.<

Why aren't you happy? Lots of studies going on, your landscapes are really improving from the last few pages.
A tip, not sure if you've done already, but I changed from referencing from photos to using another artists enviros and I started to like it better, I get really frustrated trying to understand how it works on shitty photos.

Yeah, man. These landscapes and architectures are looking more and more legit with every post. If you feel like you gotta get some time away from stuff, then do it. There's no need to work through projects if you're getting tired.

Hope your time in the mountains brings wisdom. Just come back down 50 years older and full of art wisdom. :D

Always there for you if you need someone to encourage you or kick you in the butt or both <3 If you need a day off, just take one (or a half) and catch up on sleep and stuff. Better to do it deliberately than waiting until your body demands it by force and knocks you out -_- (speaking of experience here..) Visiting the blue mountains sounds awesome though!

The building is pretty cool. Damn I need to catch up on architecture and perspective stuff ;_; Not sure why the hanging cloth on the right is half lit though when it’s in the shadow?

Awesome Bierstadt study. Those value shifts really are subtle… what an edge and value control…

ChoW turned out pretty cool. ALthough his cloth looks a bit clean and stainless for all those cuts and blood going on there!

I agree with everybody else, take a break and be human for a bit. You'll come back refreshed and excited. By the way, loved that Mayan looking temple and all the tackling outside comfort zones, keep it up!

Ah a trip to the mountains should be a nice break :) Always been a fan of the way you break down your studies and analyze your references, must be pulling lots of great knowledge from them. Excited to see what you come up with from the CGMA class. Keep us updated! Also, nice job on the CHOW, looks like something straight out of a legend or dark myth.

Sorry to hear about the death in the family and getting sick... sounds like a terrible week.
But ye bitch! I'm in the mountains right now, greatest place in Syd to chill the fck out ~

Oh, if you're anywhere near Leura - check out the antique stores there, there's one that has 2 levels and loads of old school toys that'd be good for vehicle refs etc.

For your CHOW - I can't wait for you to apply those material studies (which BTW holy shit those balls are sexual!) to your next one. Round one is always tough, but you killed the concept man

I can't see anything anyone hasn't pointed out... Sorryan, one day I'll provide you with a substantial crit :(

Keep pushing smart bro hurhur , see y'all next weeketh!

Hey Rafa, thanks. Yeah, I have actually tried that a little bit recently. Stealing a colour palette here, or a composition there. It does help, but I still want to know HOW they made those decisions. Though by the sounds of it, some of the time thats exactly how they got it as well xP

Archreux: Yeah, I am hoping some quiet time is what I need :) Thanks man.

Lyriana: I know right? He did value changes of like 3 without photoshop.. That to me is just black magic... I hope those are the kind of things that come with time, because I have no idea how to train my eyes that accurately.
And yeah, he definitely needed blood spatter... How did I forget the gore!?

Thanks Ben :D Break is looking like a good idea.

Thanks pnate :D You ChoW was amazing too! (Obviously..) Loved the designs.

Thanks Smrr! I will keep Leura in mind. See ya soon.

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Alright, so this was a pretty slow week. Went to a party on saturday night. Was there for all of about 6hrs.. But it was an hour an a half travel each way, so it screwed up two days.. While I was at the party, everyone was so social and all I could think was ...



But anyway! Nonetheless, here is my update.


As I said, not a huge update, I am toying with the idea of updating as I finish a piece, or at the end of the day instead of weekly.. Not sure which would be more beneficial... One hand, I can get more comments on WIP's but daily updating is so time inefficient. Can anyone lend any suggestions?

Regarding posting schedule - find out what the most time consuming part is for you. Commenting on ther people's sketchbooks? Finding all the different files in your folders? Replying to replies? Etc. For most of those there's a workaround, either collecting files differently (combined to less files, or you make a folder where you throw a copy of each file so you have it in one place), regarding writing stuff, you can just dump daily and comment weekly or something like that. If you streamline your process the posting itself shouldn't take much more than a couple of minutes.

Depth of field thing is f*cking CUTE XD That subsurface scattering is delicious. It took me a while to see the giant owl! I like the clouds in the Bierstadt application. Lovely circle-y motion! I think you could shift your colors a bit more throughout the image a bit more, just a sliiight purple here and a biiiit of yellowish green sitting next to a blueish green depending on where it faces etc, also changing when going back in space. I think that is part of Bierstadt's magic as well... Most of your lit greens (except for the tree) are pretty much the same hue. I see some nice blues and neutrals in the shadows there though which is nice.

Life drawing is streadily improving :) How dare you go to the bathroom though!

Lyraina: I upload everything to my website server then paste links in here, so its not really time inefficient. I just always like batching tasks and once a week means I do all my pic resizing etc at that time. Comments I do through out the week anyway, so many doing it daily will work :S Iunno, I might give it a try.


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Had a great time at OzComicCon yesterday with some really awesome people (you know who you are n.n )


Have some stuff in sketchbooks, like layouts and floorplans and design stuff I want to include with my stuff but havent gotten round to getting them off paper, and turning them into 1's and 0's.

Yarr, there be awesome n'vironments cross the starboard bow, capn'!
Ok. Weird introduction aside, those are some nice environments you got going on there. Did you figure out a character and setting before doing them, like a well thought out story, or did you just make it up as you went along from the first one?

Really sweet approach either way, get a nice movie/game vibe from the one with the character crossing the bridge with the water beneath. Would be awesome to see you complete it, give the foreground some darker values to separate it from mid and background too ;)

Well, I miht misinterpret this, but considering your question about the red color on the shadowed side, I think you could add a more blue tint in there since it seems to be direct sunlight which tends to bring out the blues in the shadows.
I guess there'd be more reflected light on the building's shadowed side too, but I think it's nice that it doesn't show of too much structure. Feels easy to overdro structure on the shadowed sides (I know I do it from time to time) and thus lose the focal points. Dunno if helpful, practicing my critique skills you know xD
Keep working on 'em!

Some pretty intense studying going on here. :)

You should embrace the moments when you feel that you're struggling with your work, a struggle always precedes your biggest advances and successes. A natural part of progress.

Adzerak: Totally made it up as I went along. Though it looks like I had some big idea.. I didnt xP
Yeah you are right, a bit of blue would help a lot. I have a lot of questions like that about colour. I just find it sort of difficult to work out sometimes. I will definitely be finishing up that character across the bridge one.

Craig: Thanks man. And yeah, I know I SHOULD but they always make me feel like crap =/


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Been a while since I posted (oops) just been busy etc. Sometime next week Kalens mentorship starts so I am hoping to start posting more regularly.
I think I'll dump these here and then try and put a post up every few pieces instead of weekly. Though there are a lot of benefits doing it weekly, it starts to feel like a chore and that I have to put in more effort every week than if I just toss a few in here and there.

These are all I could find from the last few weeks. I am pretty sure I have more, but my folders went kind of crap lately. Need to be more diligent.

My god dude, it seems like ages since ive been here again and commented, especially seeing how you've developed in that time. You seemed to have completely taken a new track into the realm of environments and buildings. Really awesome stuff man and it's inspiring as fuck to see you tackle something like this head on. Its cool seeing how its developing all kinds of areas in your work too. All I can say is keep this up man, only good things can come from it.

Sorry I cant offer any actually helpful advice mate lol, you seem to be on a good road here and I cant wait to see what comes from it.