Toxicpanda's Death Note

[Artloader]

Welcome back Toxicpanda :).

The Dark Souls piece looks awesome - I'm loving that molten sword and the floating embers.

Good luck kicking the artblock - you got this!

[Toxicpanda]

Random thing I imagined while walking around Zagreb.

More random stuff




Personal painting during emotional times

Crywolf as Shrek o_o

Fish studies...because I like fish

Quick Destiny fan art

My cooworkers and me done in Old Xian style

Self portrait for November 1st

[Tygerson]

Wow, your colors are really luminous, especially in those dawn scenes!

I love the storytelling aspect of your work as well.

[Toxicpanda]

Thank you @Tygerson <3

Life study

Imagination sketch of some idea



Another imagination sketch of maybe something I'll work on in the future

[Toxicpanda]

I haven't been uploading stuff lately. So here is something from the beginning of the year.

[Fedodika]

welcome back panda!! plz stay a little while <3

[DESQUOLOR]

Yes, yes!! Welcome back! Such awesome studies you have going on here. Please post more <3

[Toxicpanda]

Thank you my dearest muffins @Fedodika and @DESQUOLOR <3


I bought myself Surface Book and pen in hope that I will sketch more. However, I don't find it very comfortable to draw on. You have to combine it with lazy nezumi or turn on smoothing on newer PS versions. Also interface is too small. I think I'll try different programes such as Paint Storm and see how it works with that. I did these on my laptop.
It's so weird not being able to use keyboard while painting.

[Fedodika]

Panda i thought i'd give you a critique, maybe its been a while since you had a good one, im not entirely sure who's in your life and the kind of feedback you get. You're quite good at conceptualization, and seeing your idea come to fruition ;). Youre also pretty good at marketing yourself and networking, which i'll always be jealous of!

I feel you often take the easy way out (comfort zone) on things (which there's nothing inherently wrong with,) like photo compositing, drawing in a very simplified anime style, not working much from scratch on things. I think ultimately you can keep doing this and certainly improve over the years, but if you really really wanna get that stuff better, you gotta buckle down and learn the hard stuff.

Watts has been hugely beneficial for me, it doesnt have to be something like that specifically. I think really digging into anatomy, bare bones you know, learning the muscle then recreating it from memory, testing yourself with a photo drawing and indicating it well in an attractive way, not just a highlight color, but actually drawing it skillfully.

You have some good environment foundations, push those further, read creative illustration by loomis, you did one cool concept with the nude girl in the middle of the broken rocks with a radiating lines style compositon; minimal grayscale thumbnails are effective ways to train, as well as seeing how minimally you can break down a texture (if you can use pen or pencil that's better.)

Also gesture, proper face drawing via skulls, construction, being slow methodical and deliberate with them be it digital or traditional, take your time dont rush, learn every shape and curve. New masters academy is pretty sweet too, and proko obviously has some great stuff ;)

[Toxicpanda]

@Fedodika you are 100000% right. I lack the most importat thing- foundations. I know how to make things pretty and stand out. Keep with the very simple composition and balance colors. But- when it comes to drawing something without reference, or having any knowledge behind it- well, that's where I'm stuck at. My biggest problem is and was time.

Ever since I started digitally painting I was always lacking time. At first- I was trying to learn how to make images look pretty as fast as I can so I can do commissions, so I can buy computer and start learning. After I bought computer I had to do more commissions, earn money, pay off college and move to other city. After that I got a job in a studio, started learning 3D, and ever since I've been focusing mostly on 3D stuff. Luckily- I do anatomy there quite a lot- as all I've been working for the past 2 years is 8h a day in zbrush and other programes working on characters, creatures and clothes. (can't wait to show that). I even bought laptop that I can draw on , but never had the comfort of drawing on it so it's basicly used for watching anime. After getting back from work I would be too tired to even get myself up from the bed and couldn't draw at all. (thyroid issues) That made me even more depressed and it made my fight for learning fail miserably.

But now, I'm going to buy new computer again because I tortured my old one as much as I could and work on my 3D skills even more and hopefully, slowly get my butt off comfort zone and start with anatomy sketches-not just 3D. I started going to gym and first week was horrible. Now I'm on fourth week and I feel amazing. I feel like I have more energy after work so I want to use that to draw and learn.

I must say anatomy in 3D is so much easier. I feel like I know already a lot and learning is so much easier because you can balance your form from any angle. In drawing it's harder- every line is making so much impact on final result. I guess I'm just scardycat. I have to stop making excuses and start learning.

Thank you so so much for your support and help. I'll follow your advice and start with those. I already have books. I just have to get up on my feet again.

And scan my sketchbook Q_Q

Some more stuff:

[DESQUOLOR]

ah yes, the ultimate enemy: time. I'm sorry to hear about those things. I'm glad you've managed to come back around!

:)

[Toxicpanda]

Can't believe it's been a year since I posted here. Time flies way too fast.

Here are some stuff . Still not much progress with time and anatomy, however 3d work is taking over most of my time (8-10h/day).I can't wait to show that after the project is done.  I switched from one project to another, relocated twice.

























So what's new on CD?

[Fedodika]

damn i need to put some coffee cups and butterflies next to my stuff :O

[Toxicpanda]

damn i need to put some coffee cups and butterflies next to my stuff :O

Yes :D adds +skill boost 

Here are some 3d things  

[Fedodika]

what are your specs/pc?

[Toxicpanda]

what are your specs/pc?

ZOTAC GTX 1080Ti AMP 11GB GDDR5X
ASUS ROG Strix Z370-G Gaming 
DDR4 32GB (2x16) 3000MHz G.Skill TridentZ RGB
WD 2TB
Noctua NH-D15
Intel Core i7-8700K
Samsung 512GB SSD 960 Pro M.2 2280
Corsair 860W AX860
CORSAIR Crystal Series 570X RGB – White LED (box)

Recently bought new monitor - DELL U2717D 27'' (it's amazing), and second monitor is some old AOC one.
Intuos Pro Medium

[Fedodika]

THX!!

[Leo Ki]

The sailor covered in shells, wow! Did you sculpt it in one piece or you merged separate elements?

[Toxicpanda]

Been awhile. I guess this forum thread has become my very lazy diary. It seems I jump in here once a year or so. 2020 has been hard with all the covid stuff, but also we had two big earthquakes few months apart- one made me move three times. 

I deleted all my social media except for artstation (and deviantart- it's more like an archive). Not sure if I'm going to post stuff on artstation so I might delete it too  but I keep it mostly because I buy brushes from marketplace. I always felt pressured and felt like an outsider on social media. So many people engage with their followers or post pretty pictures, beautiful renders. It all felt so fake, and at the same time negative. Sometimes I felt bad for not answering on posts or not giving the same attention to someone who is liking all my posts. Just spending time scrolling or reading things made me depressed and I removed it . Some people even sent me messages that they will unfollow me if I don't post new things. What has this world come to. I also didn't really talk with anyone there, so the need to have social media was gone, and I deleted everything in 5min and felt nothing.
After the project came out that I worked on for few years and quit - I didn't feel like posting all those sculpts and concepts, even though I was always excited to finally show them. As the time passed I didn't like them anymore.
So I might jump in on this forum again sometimes. Hopefully not next year again.

Oh and almost two year answer @Leo Ki - one piece- I created brush set that just extracted those shells out.

Here are some stuff - I don't do much personal things mostly because I started working all day on my studio job from home since covid kicked in. 

[JosephCow]

:( sounds like you've had a tough year. These sculpts and concepts look great though. Very professional looking work.

I feel the same as you about social media. I got rid of most of it, but I feel like i still need to be on Instagram. I hate posting, honestly, though I never had much of a following anyway. And people that I know that generate most of their revenue from posting on Insta, their main concern is how many thousand people saw their post compared to the last one, and how many likes it got, did it gain followers etc. etc. That really is kind of a depressing way to operate.