Angel

Angel

Started as a doodle but changed things my starting with colour and went from there. This developed a lot faster than any of the more recent pieces.   A bit nonsensical but that's not what this was about.  

Mud

Mud

This one I worked on - on and off for the last 3 weeks.  It started off great - lot of enthusiasm but I did not work on it for long enough at the start and it turned into a slog .  Caught glimpses of what I wanted and then I worked on it some more and it disappeared.  Time to move on. 

Hello

Hello

Still working through some other tuff at the moment so not able to put the same effort into my practice as I would like but still doing sketches and doodles. 

Dont Know

Dont Know

Not much time this week. Started a new piece but it still is in early stages so this is a doodle instead.  Normal service will resume soon.  

Forest Hunter

Have been working on this for over 3 weeks in between other images.  It has probably benefited from me returning to it several times with fresh eyes.  It was done as a challenge and in some ways a success but as I wrap it up I am seeing some poorer points.  Going to call it done and carry the learning forward.

Danger Suit

Danger Suit 

A doodle and trying out some different Photoshop things led to this. 

Sketches 34

Sketches 34

Still working on a more involved piece of work. Not because it is very intricate but because I have had to focus elsewhere.  Here are some random sketches I have been doing alongside- mostly to relax.  

Forest speedpaint

I was working on another illustration but still have a ways to go.  This is a speedpaint I did of a forest landscape study from photo.  Took about 90 minutes.

After Thomas Moran - Cliffs of Green River

A masters study - After Thomas Moran Cliffs of Green River.  Don't think James Gurney would be too happy but anyway don't believe there is any chance this could be mistaken for an original .  Some landscape practice for me.  Done in gouache and I still haven't figured out how to achieve the luminosity that exists in the original.   Dare I do another ? 

Dock

Dock

Played around with some images layers and textures for this one.  Could have ended up detailing this forever but time to move on.  

Wolf

Wolf

Sorry I missed the post last week.   I was away and because of that the productivity was down for last week. So a simple wolf.    

Landing

Landing

This is a picture of two halves.  The background which came to together very quickly and easily And the foreground which is a bit of a mess.  I put this down to not having a clear plan on what I needed to do.  In any case I am calling it done and will carry the lessons learned forward. 

Character Sketches 8

Character Sketches 8

 Did Not start a big piece this week.  Instead just played around with characters and styles and approaches. 

In the image above the lady is a study of a model from this site  Dorgmal Snow   http://www.1-6th.co.uk/.  The pose was what was interesting but the design is really nice too.  The same for the axe guy which is a sculpt from http://pintordeminiaturas.com/.  

Riders

Riders

Tried to do something more complicated in terms of composition here. As ever whenever I try something way outside the comfort zone there is lots to be learned.  This one went at a very fast pace initially but slowed way down with detailing and fiddling with the rocks.  

Waifs and Strays

Time was I was very disciplined about finishing everything I started.  It was a good way of forcing myself to work through problems.  As time has gone on I have accumulated a lot of work in different states of unfinished which sit in a work folder.  I dont know if its a good thing or not.  Of late it is typical that I will work on a few different pieces at a time so some just  get forgotten about.  

Fungi

Fungi

A switch back to traditional medium for this one. Done in gouache.  Finding it hard  to preserve areas for highlights.  Certain if I was to do it again would have tackled it a bit differently.  

Goo Gun Guy

Goo Gun Guy

A lot of the random doodles of late have ended up as characters.  Here is another one to add to the collection. About half way through I was playing around with filters and added a poster edge filter which I kept and then worked on top of.  

Colourful landscape

Colourful landscape

Went back through some older work and  finished this one- dont think I posted it before.   Could keep refining this forever I think.

Camouflage 2

Camouflage 2 

 This one was worked up at the same time as this previous image.  The starting point is below.  Tried to keep the palette under control.  

After William Callow

After William Callow

Tried a study of a what looks like pen and washes.  Tall order for me in Photoshop.   Worked on it for a few hours but still lot left to refine in it.  The detail packed into the original is immense.  The house is still there  but the street scape has changed somewhat.  

Albrecht_Durer's_House_at_Nuremberg)_by_William_Callow,_RWS

Camouflage

Camouflage

Tried out a full on illustration.  It dropped out of a photobashing exercise.  Looking at the starting point i can see I could have taken a more dramatic direction but this is where I ended up.  I think when I take this as a starting point it, rather than confining opens up more possibilities.  The battle with this was to cool the palette down which I tried to do maybe could have gone even cooler in passages.  

Interior Study

Interior Study

Did this study quite a while ago.  A study from a photo.  Not one the recent pieces I have been working on.  I started a few this week but none are complete.  I got a new tablet -Wacom Pro medium during the week and spent 3 evenings trying to get it to work.  Drivers are a disaster- had to disable some windows settings to get them loaded.  Finally ended up working with an earlier version driver.  Never had any problems with my old Intuos 3?  Guess that's progress.   

Welder

Welder

Worked on this one for a while.  Used a few textures here and there to move things along.  Still fussed over the details and I could have worked on it for a lot longer to polish. This is it for now.  

Ready

Ready 

Started doodling this while working on a more complicated piece.  I finished this reasonably quickly - most complicated part were the arms.  Pattern was an overlay.  Was initially going to add a lot of equipment but in the end kept it simple.  

Remote

Remote

A simpler effort.  Working on atmosphere.  

Leap Year

Leap Year

Cheated a little on this.  It was started on valentines day.  I was watching Suzanne Helmighs stream.  Suzanne threw out a mini challenge to do an unlikely valentine.  It was planned to be done in about 2 hours.  I did get a lot of the figure drawn in the 2 hours.  I kept working on it and worked it into an illustration re-purposed for the leap year.    

Interior 5

Interior 5

From the low number on this image it is clear interiors have been something I have avoided.  This is a study from a photo reference. I followed it up with an imagination piece which will follow.  Think I am a little more comfortable doing these so probably more to follow.  

Oracle

Oracle

This image came from the same session as the last post - just took things in a different direction.  Just playing with colour here. 

Crane

Crane

Have a lot of stuff right now sitting in a folder in different states of unfinished.  Will have to decide to move on or finish them.  In the mean time this was one of a series of thumbnails photo bashed. I blew it up and tried to push it a bit further.  

Planes

Planes

This is landscape I started way back.  I don't think I have posted it previously.  I was looking through all the unfinished pieces I had and this one was close to finished but got lost in the flurry of character stuff I have been doing recently.  It was a nice change of pace.  

The Muscle

The Muscle

Another character.  Started in greyscale then added colour.  Hope I am getting a bit faster at these.  

After Shishkin- Gathering storm

After Shishkin- Gathering storm

This is a gouache study of a Shishkin landscape.  First attempt using gouache for landscape. The biggest take home on this was not how to use the paint but the design of the composition. To me it seems there was a lot of design going on here - layering multiple darks against lights.  It seems to me unlikely that you would find so many elements so well composed.  The next biggest learn was how important it is to hold onto the lights in gouache - once they are gone they are gone - I lost them in the foreground. 

 

Healer

Healer

Did this alongside working on two other pieces.  Sprung our of sketching did lines and went straight to colour.  Think that skipping value sped things up. 

Dog Portrait

Dog Portrait 

Had time over the holiday season to try some new stuff.  This is a study done in gouache. Started out with pencil drawing.  Did a wash to lay out tones then worked on it far too much. 



Touched it up a bit in Photoshop. I prefer the one above. 

Dog Portrait 

  

Hitman

Hitman

Continuing with the characters and switching up style. 

Goats in a Barn - After John Frederick Herring

After John Frederick Herring

A gouache study of  a piece by John Frederick Herring.   Really pleased with this one.  In part because I know what it looked like about half way through. I thought about ditching it at that point but pushed through.  I think I worked on it over 3 days going back in and reworking passages.  Thats ability to rework is what I find great about this medium but really I should be getting it right the first time.  

Its a bit wet

Its a bit wet

A bit of a coincidence.  I had started work on this before storm Desmond.  This storm dropped a lot of water on an already rain soaked Ireland causing multiple floods and a lot of damage.  

A liitle bit of pomp

During the Meissonier study  I also worked on this fellow.