PRACTICE (SUMMER '15 #10)

Being too comfortable makes me uncomfortable.

I have to push myself more, do harder things.

A study from tonight and other junk. The 3D will happen, I'm just trying to drink from a firehouse and it's uncomfortable.

I'm rambling because I should be asleep now.

I saw Between the Buried and Me last night (this morning, technically? I have to go to bed, but Animals as Leaders and The Contortionist were there, too. I'm getting too old for late night concerts at 20 billion dB) and I'm exhausted.

Oh, I found the reference image for that top one from here, will probably do more tomorrow. But maybe I won't show you.

Cranquee (SUMMER '15 #9)

Well, uh...

Well.

I'm feeling a bit burned out. I haven't done Zbrush for a couple days because I jumped gung-ho into modeling my sword from a few days ago... I ran into a problem because midway through, I realized that the version of Maya I'm running is the student version and I'm not supposed to make anything commercial with it. So I have to learn Blender now. I really just need to add some edge loops to the dang thing so when I move it to Zbrush and subdivide it up to ten bazillion polygons it maintains the sharpness along the blade, but apparently Blender has a completely different interface and control system (I read somewhere that anybody who thinks Blender is "Maya for Free" is setting themselves up to be disappointed). I will learn it. I must. But that sets things back and confuses things. I haven't posted for a while, so I'll just post what I have for you today (It took me half an hour to figure out how to properly render out what I've uploaded here). There's nothing in color, unfortunately, but I hope I can make that up to you with a post full of love, instead.

The story behind the text at the top of this one is as follows.

Kaitlin and I were sitting in church and her young niece Amelia was sitting with us. Kaitlin is very supportive of my artistic endeavors (you'll notice she's basically the only human who comments on these posts) but doesn't quite understand my fascination with monsters and chaos and gibs. She asked Amelia, "Are those scary monsters?" to which Amelia gave the hilarious reply "I think he's just a really good artist!" So there you have it. I get to keep drawing hideous aberrations in church.

And my sword so far. 

Just Give Me Two Weeks (SUMMER '15 #1)

Geez! Where have I been? Very busy! Aspects of this 3D nonsense have proven much harder than anticipated and I've been floundering in my attempts to paint the object(s) I've created. Also, the figure drawing class that started this week [as an inappropriately lengthy aside, I thought classes started on the 12th, but apparently they started on the 11th. I'm very sad I missed a first day of class, even if it is just the day we discuss the syllabus. I like to have near perfect attendance.] is looking to be more demanding  than I had planned on. I'll keep trying to chip away at 3D, but I don't know how far I'm going to get with the sketchbook for figure drawing looming over my head.

Anyway, here's stuff I did:

These first 3 images are what took me so long. The 3D sword was giving me tons of trouble. Coloring that junk in? Jeepers. I hope the next thing I do isn't anywhere near as painful. 

(I rendered the sword in Maya because I was overwhelmed and cranky. I'll try for a more elegant solution next time)

These next few sketches are images I'd like to take to a more finished state in the next couple weeks.

Then I have the normal scribbles.

I saw this guy on the bus on Friday morning.

I didn't see this guy, nor would I want to.

So yes... Two weeks in and I'm not exactly where I planned. But I have a finished painting and some good sketches to start from and a couple ideas for more 3D props. I still need to find a way to work from reference more (or just get out and draw from life more), but hey! I have the whole Summer, right? Some of these guys have the EXACT same face, or hand, or feet, or pose or whatever. I aim to avoid that in the future.

Hopefully the next update comes much sooner. 

Just A Poast

Looks like roast.

Today I went down to Sandy to do some voicework. These were just done on 8.5 x 11 paper on a clipboard I had, since I didn't have a sketchbook. 

These are just sketches maybe I'd to take farther someday.

And now I go back to work.

Reunion

Today in my anatomy class we finally had a male model, which was a first for our class. It was a nice change of pace. I'll have to upload some of those figure studies when the semester is over.

I got my sketchbook back today! Here's what I drew in it:

This was also in here from last Monday, I don't think I got to upload it.

Good Morning!

Just kidding, it's 4:10 on a Saturday. I want to render some of these further, but it's kind of scary, so I'm going to wait til I have more time. I don't now, cuz my fiance and I are going to a barbecue. I'm super excited to see her!!!

I guess I should just post when it's done? I don't know, it will never be finished. 

Hmm, I think I'm avoiding it cuz it's hard. I really like how these sketches turned out and I don't want to ruin it with a bad rendering/painting over the top.

Fear.

Hmmm.

I'm gonna keep working this and see what I can do.

...

But still look at them right now:

Some warrior guys. 

An alien with a big alien laser rifle. You will be proud to hear I used some reference for the scope. 

A disgusting mutant. This is the sort of thing you blow into gibs in Quake.

So this week I was sitting on the ground while I waited for the bus... And I drew what was there. Kinda reminded me of Ryan Ottley's POV stuff. I looked up and saw the bus and almost fell over cuz my leg had fallen asleep. 

Some random tough guys

Red? Ask Me When I'm Not Asleep

Oh me, oh my.

It's gonna be a busy week. I have some homework to do, and it's kind of getting jammed into the little corners so I can try other things. Things like this:

Original Sketch:

MOM! I know you're peeved about his feet, cuz they're all little and tiny, but I was thinking he's like a crab guy, y'know? He has red armor and crab feet. So that's how I justify away the need to draw detailed feet. I feel like I lost some visual interest in the leg area from the sketch to the final (is it done? I have too much to do!), but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

A little update on the guy from last time, I think I might call it good unless I wake up tomorrow and absolutely have to fix something when I see it again (I'm looking away right now to make sure it doesn't happen):

A little thing. I drew a ton of stuff this weekend, and have so many ideas I'd like to push a little further lying all over my desktop. I tell myself I'm going to paint everything, but really, none of it's homework and I don't have time. So here's a pen n ink thing, but not Inktober. Just normal. So some brawler is going to brawl an opponent into submission and the ghost of his dead master hath appeared to guide him toward certain victory:

I have to finish my Gallery of Terror piece. My Flash assignments are killing me. I'm going in early tomorrow to sink three or four hours into my midterm, but I'd really like to work on some 3D stuff. I look at objects and take them apart in my mind, using Maya to reconstruct them into shapes. What tool would I use to get the curved edges? Where would I extrude? Would this work better to build from a single polygonal primitive, or should I start with several and combine them further down the line? I need to do that tomorrow night. I also need to re-teach myself how to UV a model. The default tools just aren't utilizing space effectively. Maybe I'll skip art history? Ugh!

The Ponchoah

I'm calling this done.

Some other things I did today, would like to take further, etc

I censored that guy getting shot up in the bottom left hand corner. 

TL;DR: Summer Goals Recap Week the Twelfth (12th)

I may have failed completely again this week. I didn't do any research from the books I had set aside as part of my Summer goals, I didn't do any 3D and I didn't do any writing.

But this week didn't feel like a failure because I did something I really loved (click HERE to see, for those of you who didn't have a chance to see). 

Hopefully there will be more of that.

Here's what I'm currently painting: 

Here's what I want to paint this week:

Guy with obnoxious hair and face:

Legolas fan art ( I was sitting next to my fiance in church and she was like, "Is that Legolas?" so I tried it out and it worked):

Some guy who needs to have a body drawn:

Okay, I've had my fun

I've been fooling around with compositions for a while, I need to take one of them and push it further. So that's what I'm gonna do next week. Um. It's kind of cool to have two subjects. Here I have a tower and some dude walking towards it:

This is what I turned in for "Mask" today. 

Headache City!!!

My head hurts, I'm uncomfortable. I think I'm dehydrated. I also think I stayed up last night finishing the fantastic Locke & Key. I work at a library and check out tons of comics and frequently bring stuff back, never really getting into it. this had me hooked right off the bat, and turning pages until it was over. Not for the faint of heart, but the writing and art were both top notch.

Here are thumbs for the final assignment in one of my classes. Our assignment is to do a frog prince. Being a metalhead most my stuff kind of has a metal merch-y feel but I want this frog king guy to be creepy and kinda evil.

Used The Sartorialist as reference. These images were the last ones I needed to complete the reference-based sketchbook for one of my classes. Hooray! Now to work on all the final projects.

I was surprised when I saw this guy on The Sartorialist. He'd been shown wearing the exact same thing in a previous post. A post, coincidentally, that I used as reference before...

Bus people

Some doodles. Since I finished a required sketchbook I thought I'd just kind kick back and relax.

I fell asleep for half an hour while drawing the big guy. I'm worn out.

I thought I had more to upload.

It would have been from this morning, though, so I can't remember what it is at this point in the day. That was hours ago.

Here's the finished (what I turned in, I guess) spaceship (remember? It was here):

Some funny hats:

I'll try to upload the other stuff tonight. When/if I remember.

OFF TO THE BUS!