Rognoll's Sketchbook

[Rognoll]

Been working on those sketches, and they're all finished!






also, a character design study that turned out pretty well.

[Rognoll]

My internet has been off (again) for like 4 days, so here's what I've been doing today.

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aaand this one.

[Rognoll]

aaannd, this one

[Olooriel]

I relly like your comic style work a lot! With your painterly stuff one thing I notice a lot is that there's very little dark values in it. Wherever opaque things are fairly close together, light should barely reach, like in the folds of fabric, between body parts that almost touch, the side of the neck under thick long hair etc. Maybe look for this when doing studies from photos, and check your values while painting by adding a black layer in saturation mode on top.

[Rognoll]

thanks, Olooriel! I actually enjoy doing those a lot more! I think I'm gonna do more of those.
You're right. Values are weak. A friend told me it's because I have my monitor in a low brightness setting, to protect my sight. I'll try incresing it next time I draw.

[Rognoll]

trying to do metal this way. Difficult shit.

[Ursula Dorada]

Metal is tricky man!
Good attempt though :) Have you tried painting from life? It really helps understanding the random colors/values on it. Try something simple, like a spoon or a kettle. It's a real learning experience.

[darktiste]

when i look at the knight it hurt me to see that is cloth is the same color as the metal it kinda wierd

[Olooriel]

The colour of the metal wouldn't be a problem if it didn't also have the same texture, it looks as if it is made of the same non-reflective material as the cloth. It's a good idea to do a metal study, but as a general guideline, reflective materials tend to have not only very strong value differences, but also very abrupt ones. And they do pick up surrounding colours, so if there is a lot of blue in the background, you'd expect metal to look somewhat bluish.

[Tygerson]

Your lineart is just awesome--never underestimate that skill. (I paint to hide my lines!)

One thing your paintings might miss is the darker end of the value scale. You can get away with it with lineart because of the black lines. Just try out amping the contrast and see what it does. Not that your paintings have to be dark. But even high key images have small dark areas.

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Here is an example of what I mean by increasing contrast. It was basically a levels adjustment layer, with a tiny color tweak. Hope it helps, and that you don't mind my messing with your artwork.

You can see on the histogram the flatline where the blacks are missing.

[Rognoll]

wow! thanks guys for the suggestions!

Your lineart is just awesome--never underestimate that skill. (I paint to hide my lines!)

One thing your paintings might miss is the darker end of the value scale. You can get away with it with lineart because of the black lines. Just try out amping the contrast and see what it does. Not that your paintings have to be dark. But even high key images have small dark areas.

---

Here is an example of what I mean by increasing contrast. It was basically a levels adjustment layer, with a tiny color tweak. Hope it helps, and that you don't mind my messing with your artwork.

You can see on the histogram the flatline where the blacks are missing.

Holy crap, Tygerson! That lifted that work up a lot! it changes the whole thing! Thanks a lot for the advice!

Metal is tricky man!
Good attempt though :) Have you tried painting from life? It really helps understanding the random colors/values on it. Try something simple, like a spoon or a kettle. It's a real learning experience.

The colour of the metal wouldn't be a problem if it didn't also have the same texture, it looks as if it is made of the same non-reflective material as the cloth. It's a good idea to do a metal study, but as a general guideline, reflective materials tend to have not only very strong value differences, but also very abrupt ones. And they do pick up surrounding colours, so if there is a lot of blue in the background, you'd expect metal to look somewhat bluish.

You're definitely right guys, I must paint from life, study metal a lot more. Thank you!

Now, after studying metal and some other surfaces, I've come up with a WIP, lemme know what you think

[Rognoll]

more of her, almost finished

[darktiste]

wow it me or the hand with the gun is out of proportion and the leg seem to long

[Rognoll]

Thanks, man! I'll try to check those stuff again :)

[vansty]

you've got some nice stuff, i like how your values are improving. in your last piece i think you should remove the left hand from her back, not only is the pose unnatural but it make an otherwise good painting look amatureish. but in general nice Job.

[Samszym]

I love steampunky gears as much as the next guy but make sure they're a different value than your character, it's very hard to pick out her silhouette from all those high-contrast shapes.

Can we see some of your metal studies? It's a tricky subject to paint, the key is understanding that nothing you see on the metal is "random", but everything is a reflection of the environment. Those reflections are stronger or weaker or differently colored depending on the level of polish and color of the metal. Plus reflections are stronger on planes that are facing more parallel to your gaze, for confusing science reasons.

And just a drawing crit that irks me, those goggles are much too wide for her eyes right now.
Cool stuff dude, I'm really digging her expression and themed costume design :)

[Rognoll]

you're definitely right, sam. Unfortunately, I have done very fiew metal studies. Mostly read about it in books, I guess I'll have to try the hard way! Lol.
Anyway, thanks for the crit! it's really useful!

@ Vansty: I feel the same way, but the arm is holding the gun in the back, I guess it looked way better in my brain XD

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Now, here's the final thing

[Rognoll]

A fanart that took a lot of math.

[Matija Vuk]

You got some really really crazy ideas here, just keep practicing and pushing your technical skills to present them in the best way possible :) GL

[Rognoll]

Thank you Matija! I'll try my best! :)

Phiew! I haven't posted in forever! Been so busy!
I've been practicing portraying, and this is the best thing I could come up with. A self-portrait.
It's not finished, but I'm on it.