Mike's Sketchbook

[Mike]

Hi guys!

I'll start from here because I feel like I'm not doing enough studies and sketches as I propably should. I usually make things as I go. Cause I'm lazy as shit. I hope in here that will change and I'll become much better. I appreciate all the feedback guys so feel free to kick my ass, criticize or whatever :) I draw pretty much since I can remember but it has always been with pencil. I've started using digital couple years ago but I abondoned it for long time. Take it seriously 1,5 year ago when I posted my first image on deviantart. Since then I'm trying to become better, drawing as much as I can and hopefully in the future become professional :)

Enough of this boring talk, again welcome everybody and I'm sorry for my bad english, It sucks :P
As I said I don't have much studies to show so I post some finished stuff I did also. Some older and newer.

First studies:









and finished stuff:

[Adam Lina]

Woah that portrait of the girl looks like a photo! I like the character designs too. Keep posting!

[Adrian]

Dayumn , those characters are awesome. Last one reminds me a bit of Warhammer 40k. Keep them coming indeed!

[BenFlores]

Nice start mike, I'm really liking those designs. Excited to see more !

[bish0p2004]

Woah, awesome sketchbook so far. I really like the last two character concepts.

[Mike]

Thanks guys for checking it out.

@Hypnagogic_Haze Thanks man! I wanted to come as close to a photo as possible so good to know that you think that :)
@Adrian Thanks dude. I feel like I'm not so creative with design so I'll try to focus on characters more. I don't really know Warhammer stuff much besides machine dudes with big ass armors :D
@BenFlores Thank you!
@bish0p2004 Thanks, I'm glad you like them :)

Here is some update.

[Mike]

Another ones. Some pose studies. I've tried to do one from the ref and right after that another from memory. Not exactly the same but I'll keep working on those :) I don't know how some people can just do outline without some skeleton, bean shape or even quick gesture lines underneath and it looks gorgeous. My anatomy looks broken as hell when I try to do that. I guess it's just a matter of practice over and over again.

[Mike]

I love beautiful environment. And hate it so much at the same time because I cannot do it. Same with the backgrounds when I got the character. This is something I have to work on for sure. More thumbnails and more ideas before actually getting to paint the final version.

This is example what I mean. I did a sketch and then went with colors, not really thinking about the mood, colors and composition, experimenting during the process. And stuck with bringing it to finish. That last step is really problematic too.


Some other thing. That one I actually like. Maybe I'll work on it more.


And some poses and anatomy studies from today. Trying to understand the form more.

[denikina]

Hi there, fellow countryman :)

Very good job on the inquisitor and nurse - good amount of detail and well chosen colours. :)
When drawing anatomy from life/ref remember to always shade accordingly to the shape of the body, just like you did with the arms. It helps getting the feel of dimension.

Keep it up :)

[Mike]

Thank you :) Yes, I try to do that sometimes. It's harder than shading with one direction lines but as you said it helps getting the feel of dimension better. I have to work on that. Thanks for stopping by :)

Some scirbbles from today:

[rafa zanchetin]

Hey Mike, welcome to CD!

Really liking the hard work, that is the secret for all of this, also diggin' those animals too!

[CoreyH]

Damn crazy studies man. Wicked character designs too :)

[Mike]

@rafa zanchetin Thanks man! Good to be here :)
@CoreyH Thank you :)

Poses, poses everywhere..


Master study. I stopped working on this because there was really no point anymore. I'm guilty anyway because I feel like I wasn't paying too much attention what I was doing.


Environment thumbnails. From ref of course. Oh man I suck at this.. But that's why we study so we can get better right? :)

[Lyraina]

Hi Mike and welcome! Already seeing some great studies and artwork in here. It's good to see you do those figures with ref and then from mind; that kind of study will help a lot to actually learn and memorize instead of just copying. Your 'no ref' ones are damn close to the referenced ones those, respect!

When studying environments from photographs, be aware that photos often are post processed, and that photos almost never show reality as it is, as they tend to eat away a lot of subtle color variations and show black and high-contrast in areas that really aren't that dark to the eyes. It's fine to study from photographs, just be aware of these things :) And maybe look at some (old master) paintings as well.

As for the example in post #8 - I like how it turned out :) Though I also like the cooler mood in the third one. One thing you can do to avoid jumping around with ideas so much, is just trying out some things first, before you start rendering it. Build your composition first, then just copy the lines a few times, and play with different light situations and colors, just by roughly blocking them in. Like that you can just try out which mood you like best, solve light/shadow/composition problems early on, and then go and paint the best one :)

Great start in this sketchbook, keep working hard, you're definitely on the right track! :)

[Mike]

Hey Lyraina, thank you!
I'll do more of those ref/no ref/ because as you said, hopefully it will help with memorizing, not copying. :)

About that environment, thank you! that's a great advice. It seems pretty obvious but I actually haven't thought about that. I'll surely check out some old masters paintings. Those are always full of usefull informations. I would consider going outside and paint from life if I could use brush and paint, not just stupid pencil :(

I like that third one too. But I find it harder to make something look good in that cool, desaturated colors. Lame excuse I know but more light always helps a lot :d Something to work on for sure.
Yes exactly, you're right. More ideas before rendering. I have that bad habit with jumping to render too soon. Go away bad habit, go away!

Thanks again Lyraina :)

So called update. Not much but better this than nothing :P







Environment again:


And workng on the character from the CHOW challenge.




I picked following two. Not sure which one to go with yet so I'm working on both of them. I've tried green palette too and looks nice so I don't know.


Also, where do you guys upload your stuff to before posting here? I put it on my deviantart stash but I don't think it's a good idea. I haven't posted much here but It's already mess in my stash :d

[Mike]

It's been a week since my last update. It's a shame. I should do this more often, damn it.

Poses. Quick, to just capture the pose and slow, more focus on accurate proportions, shading, form, etc.





Jamie Jones studies. I love this man.





CHOW final version. Right arm is weird. I've tried putting his elbow lower but then It looked even weirder. Now feels too short I don't know :/