Sketchbook Dregs

We've almost got the summer's second block scheduling woes squared away, which I thought would be nice, but it's turned out to be the least of my worries.

The figure drawing class has been a frightening nightmare. We had an assignment due this week and I spent 8-10 hours struggling to complete it on time. Because of this I had no choice but to get behind on sketchbook. I spent most of my day yesterday and a few hours this morning catching up! It's nice to finally be where I should, but I'm concerned the next assignment will throw a wrench into things again. 

Here's the last of the sketchbook I was talking about last time. This new sketchbook is off to a rough start, which I'm actually okay with because I had a really nice couple weeks. I'll get it back.

When I get a spare second I work on UV's for the 3D guy. It's super slow going since my time is all being funneled into figure drawing, but hopefully now I'm caught up I can spend a little more time getting through this and getting to the fun part (texture painting).

26/5000: Birthday Boy

Today I am 26 years old. It feels weird to type that. The title of this post has a 5000 in it because that's the goal I'm setting for myself. Years, you see. I figure I'll have gotten fairly good at art and played through all the games in my Steam library by then. Probably not all because some are not games I'd actually play, but I'd like to play a lot of 'em. Hopefully Kaitlin decides to live to be 5000 with me or I'll be lonely and sad. She is the best wife.

Here's some sketchbook stuff from the last couple days:

(I'm really pumped about the guy with the sword above his head in this next one. I think it's so freakin' cool! I want to do more on it)

I promised you an update on one of the pictures I posted last time. I'm terrified to work on the muscle knife guy (and I'm gonna be honest, I might not come back to it!), but here's an update on that ship (I love a chance to use the "Vehicular Mayhem tag):

I tried something a little different with this one and added a rusty texture I found on Google. I don't know who did it, so if that's your rust, let me know and I'll credit you!

Being 26 isn't that different from being 25. I wonder when I get older?

Special Anniversary Post: 3rd Year - Portfolio Site Is Live!

Whoa, it's hard to think that this blog has been part of my life for 3 years now. It's gone through several changes in that time, most notably the amount of posts per day/week/month. I can only hope the slightly different approach to posting has led to an increase in quality overall. Since I haven't posted in awhile, I'll treat this as a normal blog post and then proceed with the standard yearly review. 

First and foremost, I have to tell you the secret I've been whispering about for the last few posts. I decided to stop stalling and launch my portfolio site. I've been working on this for several months and will be switching the current images for more appropriate finished compositions as they happen, but I think it's time to stop messing around and let it go live! Click here to visit zachheckert.com.

Some of these are older pieces that will be getting some attention since I've learned some things since they were started. Those will be swapped out as they're improved upon. I have other works in progress that I'm trying to finish up. I've had kind of a rough start on doing artwork this year, despite my new year's resolutions. There should also be an increase in 3D work soon, too. I'll still post here, but I'll try to collect the best stuff I have over there.

I'm too lazy to go back and see if I talked about it last post, but my aunt and uncle gave me a card to Utrecht for Christmas. I bought some fancy Polychromos pencils (y'know, I'm thinking I talked about this last post after all, but just humor me) and a Moleskine notebook. They make some good drawings, but a downside I've found is that since it's not spiral-bound, it's difficult to scan stuff. I draw all over the page and am constantly getting into the spine, making that part horrible to scan. I really like the materials it's made of, but it's a bit too soon to tell if it will fall apart before I finish it like the cheap ones I normally draw on. Here's a handful of stuff from the first half or so.

This first one? There's a guy with that big gun that says C-42. I'm modeling that in 3D at the moment!
And the guy on the bottom with luscious hair is wayyyy stupid. What was I thinking and shame on me.

What the heck, this guy's stupid arm. It's even labeled "My stupid arm." What was I thinking and shame on me. Also, the guy on the furthest right only got into this image because I liked his hand.

My anatomy is disastrous. I've basically not been working from reference at all. It shows! The guy on the bottom left (who was also posted to Instagram) has noodle arms, and the guy above him has the opposite of noodle arms (big meaty meat arms). I don't know how it works. What was I thinking?! Shame on me!

I have no current issues with this one, except for the space scooter is facing to the right which I find irksome for some reason. I may become upset by these characters later.

That does it for recent stuff. Here's the year in review, with stats from last year in parentheses:

Total posts: 556 (510)

Total page views: 32,510 (24295)

Total comments: 1414 (1225)

Total followers: 30 (30) [Like last year, there's some weird numbers involved here. Google+ says I have 63 followers, but I don't think those people see or follow regularly.]

Total coolness improvement: 0%

JANUARY

I picked this because the faces looked good. They mostly even resembled the reference I was using, which I felt was a big step forward. Nice!

FEBRUARY

This one was competing against a sketchier sketch of the standard monster fare typically found on the blog. I picked this for diversity, to show that I'm capable of doing something more naturalistic. I also felt it showed growth over other faces I've attempted in the past.

MARCH

I like the guy in the upper right. His face and hair are what earned this image the right to be shown here. The guy with 3 eyes is cool too, I guess. His body doesn't really make any sense, but if you don't look down that far you'll be a-okay.

APRIL

I think that the armore is the reason I chose this one. I like it. I also like the fish chainsaw sword.

MAY

I chose this one because it was sorta-kinda-finished, even though some stuff needs work. That's fine. It's actually on a pile of stuff I need to improve.

JUNE

This was another contested spot. I chose this because I really like the drawing. I feel like this character could go somewhere. His design is simple, but I'm into it!

JULY

This was the final for my figure drawing class last summer. I put this one in to show, once again, that I'm capable of doing something outside of monsters blowing each other into gibs.

AUGUST

This was a study from a film still. I like it because I only spent an hour and it was a definite improvement over the preceding study I did. I have fond memories of this one, even if it's not totally representative of the source material.

SEPTEMBER

This one turned out pretty cool in general (in my opinion), but I like the guy with the ridiculously long arm and the sword and beard. His body is kind of funky but I feel like the musculature is believable-ish. I felt it showed progress over other stuff.

OCTOBER

Some 3D. I like this mostly because of the arms, though perhaps not the hands. That might be the only reason I like it, actually. This one goes on the growing pile of  "Tune up and get it onto the portfolio site" stuff.

NOVEMBER

The hands on these characters were good. That's why this is here.

DECEMBER


This one was picked because I like that I did it in an afternoon. It gives me hope that I can get stuff finished quickly. I'm hoping it means that there will be more, despite the relatively slow pace of January.

So there you have it. Another year, another dollar(s). I won't lie, this has been kind of a frustrating month. I've felt a bit slumpy and have lacked motivation. I've got some plans for how to reverse this, though, so you should hopefully be seeing nice junk soon. Thanks for coming to my blog and looking at the stuff I draw. Even though I only know a couple of you, it's cool that you can all come and visit. Hopefully all this posting is helping you in some way, too.

 To improvement. 2016 will be a good'n.

See you next time.

Misery: I've Lost My Stylus

Woe is me! 

I don't even know how this happened, but it has absolutely cramped my style this week. 

I've mentioned here that I've been trying to use my phone effectively? I downloaded the Pluralsight app and have been watching a sweet video on generating assets in Zbrush. I've been learning tons. 

Thursday evening I finally got some free time and was going to start applying what I learned. But my stylus was gone.

...That's about it. Still unable to find it today after tearing our domicile apart looking for it, I bought a new one which will arrive Tuesday. Because of that, this is all I can show you (and it took me like 3 horrendous hours).

Also, this morning I was helping a lady in my neighborhood move and there was this buff guy there. I was staring at his arms trying to memorize what the muscles did as he moved around, (hoping he didn't get the wrong idea) so I could draw way cooler arms. That is all.

Some dudes:

Some more dudes (and thumbnails/environmental practice [which can be hard to see. Right click and open in a new window for easier viewing]):

Today, I Was Naughty.

Well...  This was a doozy of a week. I did some terrible drawings. These ones were from just after my last blog post and after this I drew a lot of puke. I've been trying to keep up on homework but I'm not really interested. People are saying that I need to "Make assignments my own" but the classes I'm in are not conducive towards that. I woke up at 6 this morning and while Kaitlin was sleeping in (Saturday is the only day of the week we sleep in. I try to sleep in but my body demands I get up around 6 so I get up and get to work) I did some art and started a couple things. Once I get them a bit further along I'll show them to you. But about the title for this post. We randomly ended up with some time where we weren't doing anything this afternoon. I should I worked more on projects, but I played videogames for a while instead. It was only a couple hours but I felt guilty afterwards. That's the sort of thing that gets in the way of getting better at art, right? UGH! What was I thinking? Hopefully it doesn't happen again. I did some work on the 3D character this week, but it wasn't substantial enough to show you. I did work on this guy some more:

Still got a long way to go, I really need to get the blacks out of the shadows. Next, I've got some sketchbook stuff. There's like a pig alien guy standing on the hill. He's going back to his spaceship after an uneventful trip.

I was walking to work from the bus stop this week. I saw 3 different varieties of mushroom, so I snapped some pics with  my phone. I drew a weird mushroom man. And a robot named Frank, but it's pronounced "Frahnk."

A dragon and a will-o'-the-wisp.

Then some doods. The text for the grouchy guy all balled up (which I seem to have removed at some point) said "Clothed Cannonball!!" The space marine at bottom middle is a victory because I attempted some perspective on his firearm. I should have used reference. If I ever want to finish it, I'll need to. There are no legs because I couldn't get them to look right. Urgh.

Yeah, that's all I got. I don't play videogames, really, but I think I have to get better and managing my time. I need to be completing work when I'm at home but homework and stuff gets in my way and is too darn distracting. I don't think it's worth it to wait for big 6 hour chunks of time, because those don't happen. I need to cram work into the 15 and 20 minute blocks so at least I'm taking baby steps. I'll figure it out. Have a good week!

Why Bother? (SUMMER '15 #3)

Firstly- I made some changes to how the blog looks, and implemented an infinite scroll function. I've had some issues and so I made any link open in a new tab. It's horrendous web design but I'm still trying to work out how to keep the scroll without breaking stuff. If you have any problems or hate it or love it please let me know!

So, because I gave you those more finished pieces the last couple updates, I became terribly behind on my homework for class. I didn't really realize how much work the class was til I drew it all out and realized I was doomed if I maintained the pace I was working. All I do after work is draw for Figure Drawing til I go to bed. I'm going to make it, but barely. Class ends on the 26th, and after that I should have more colored stuff. In the meantime you just get the sketchbook stuff I do in transit and sitting waiting for class to start. 

I have every intention to demolish my goals (I have a folder full of sketches waiting to be painted and my 55 hour 3D Zbrush/Maya course waiting be initalized), but this class is far more difficult than anticipated. On the plus side, I am getting close to finishing my second sketchbook goal. Nice!

I like the guy on the upper right of this. He's like the Ghost of the Soviet Union or something.

The thing that bothers me about the guy in the bottom right is that his magic, broken sword couldn't possibly fit in the sheath.  Hrrm.

This lady! I've been seeing her on the bus more and more frequently. She lives at an old folks home several bus stops away. Anyway, When I drew this sketch she was just chatting like crazy at the bus driver. Midway through the trip she swapped her plain glasses for ones with star rims. Right before she wheeled off, she said, "See ya tomorrow, darlin!" to the bus driver. I like riding the bus. I like how much personality and story is crammed into one space. So many interesting people.

When I was drawing the guy in the upper right Kaitlin was like, "He looks like a science teacher!" I said, "Science? More like DIE-ence!" He'd be a rad villain. In case there are any questions, the guy in the bottom right has a giant scythe as a weapon. We're looking at his back (he's looking away from us).

The elvish warrior guy on the right falls squarely into the "Want to finish this but don't have time" folder. Also, the guy in the bottom right is a perfect example of why I should use reference. The drapery is simply embarrassing.

Again, bottom left? Drapery? It's like I'm not even trying. Terrible. But I think the idea is cool, stupid cloth notwithstanding.

This guy has a long sword. That is all.

So yes... I'm having a hard time keeping up with my goals, but that should change in two weeks when my class ends. Until then, I'll keep drawing when I can! And next time I should also have some figure drawings to show you.

EmBEARassing

Hey, school is busy, keeping me busy, busy, so I'm not posting a finished painting right now or anything, just some stuff I drew yesterday.

For my Drawing for Animation class, we had to design a character based on a prompt. We could do a spaceman, a bear, or a schoolgirl. I figured that the spaceman would be too obvious for me (based on what I'm always doing) and the girl would be stretching myself too much. So I did a bear. These are some of my concepts. Well, the first couple are. Ha. Things got out of control later on and I drew some other bears that were barely bears. I left those in cuz some were kinda cool. When I get my final draft back I'll upload it so you can see what I ended up with and submitted.

This was my final concept before I finished it up:

Things were getting wild.

Bearzerker? I'd like to render this out and turn it into a cool 3D model or somefink.

A tank bear and a...

Yeah, I don't know. I do know that I should get some reference so next time I draw a tank it looks more tanky.

Here! This Is from the 3rd and 4th.

Today is the 5th, and I've drawn some cool things today I'll show you tomorrow. I came back down to Orem today for a few reasons. I got a call last night from the parents explaining that the router came yesterday. So soon after leaving my actual router (not a cookbook!) came in the mail. Blast! So I came to retrieve my router. The next reason is that some classmates of mine are doing a homework marathon over at school. I'm hoping to finish one of my final projects so that I can sleep better at night. Lastly, I came to update my blog. So here you go. It would also appear that I forgot to bring one image I was particularly fond of. I suppose you'll see that tomorrow!

Up first we have this guy doing a systems diagnostic check on his hover bike. There are couple things wrong here... the symmetry isn't quite working, I should have been more careful when I mirrored the planes. But hey. This is the price I pay for not using any sort of reference. Sorry, I know I promised I'd work on thattttt

Just a guy. I had more to him but another [hideous] character was overlapping him so I just cropped it all out.

Just some weirdos

The only reason this guy got in is because of his shoes and his hat. I really don't care much for the rest of this thing.

Til tomorrow! Fingers crossed that the internet is super quick and painless to set up. I need to pay bills!

I think I'm Gonna Do Something

I was thinking about what has influenced me the most artistically over the years and I think I'd like to do special blog posts based on that. So maybe I'll do those as a work in progress, semi-regular special feature.

Anyway, here's some stuff from today: