Zelda Redesign -Study

Needed to pick a style and I choose more realistic than cartoon.  The reason for this was just that this is what I tend to produce more readily and I thought it would be good overall practice.  I needed some portrait and pose studies this was the first.

Composition-Windwaker Reworked

After some research did some compositional work.  The brief was not to use previous Zelda designs but keep the nautical theme plus include at least the main 3 characters.  I decided at the outset to depict just Link, Gannon and Zelda. I also wanted to keep it to one wrap around image.  

I started with some thumbs then picked one and did some comps.  I took the one at the top and started doing some studies to bring to the image.

Bloodsports 7 - Windwaker Reworked!

Bloodsports 7 - Zelda Windwaker Reworked.  Never played or even saw played a Zelda game.  That was not going to be an excuse not to complete this challenge, so first up a little research and then some compositional work.  

Roses - Oil Painting

Roses Oil Painting

Had not done any oil painting in a while.  Valentines day rolled around and there were a lot of roses on sale so I took the opportunity.  This was going to be a very conventional still life but it drifted away form it pretty fast.  Drew the roses in pencil - it was really nice sketch.  Went over it with acrylic and it got obliterated so I just dove in with the paint.  I completed the background in the next sitting.  Sorry about light - energy saving bulbs- not so great some times.  

After Arkhipov Along the River Oka Masters study 2

After Arkhipov Along the River Oka

Arkhipov Along the River Oka

Following the last masters study,completed at Christmas, I made another one by the same artist.   This one was completed in a much shorter time frame maybe 6 hours over a few evenings.  All done in Photoshop and about 95 % of it was made with one brush.  These are a blast to do and not as demanding as the challenge work I have being doing.  I think I need to put what I have learned from these into practice.

Bloodsports 6 Challenge hunter design

Hunter Design Bloodsports 6 Challenge

This was the  submitted design for the Bloodsports 6 hunter creature design challenge.  Design a hunter - before hunt.  Then the creature which was the subject of the hunt and finally the hunter sporting the hunting trophy.  I didnt go for the obvious armour and instead went for something a little more internal. Anyway the creature which went along with this design is posted here.
The hunter is somewhat unfinished and I will return and polish it. 

Creature -Bloodsports 6

Creature -Bloodsports 6

Here is the submitted creature design for the bloodsports 6 challenge.  First off I put it in environment - don't think I should have for challenge but it sold idea creature lived in deep water.  Shell is a soft membrane - semi transparent.  Visible are organs - parts of the digestive and respiratory system.  Armour only on the underside.  I should have illustrated underside but time ran out.

Bloodsports 6 Studies Summary

Bloodsports 6 Studies Summary

Here is a summary of studies for the Bloodsports 6 Challenge. I did do a few pencil studies for the creature and channeled the water flea and the microscope image of the louse. I backed away from the pencil creature as it began to look too much like a turtle!

Manatee -Photoshop Study

Manatee Photoshop Study

After abandoning the Samurai armour study I committed to going with an underwater theme.  To aid with this I did a study of this manatee.  Reference was from National Geographic site (a great resource).  This image had an interesting subject and a great environment.  I did not finish it out it was probably an hour and a half.  Did a chunk of that during lunch break.  

Samurais-Photoshop Study

Samurais - Photoshop Study

 

 

 

 

This was a Study I did just to get familiar with the armour for Bloodsports 6 challenge.  It was not polished to any extent.  Just got some major shapes down to get ideas for construction.  As it turns out I didn't end up using the information here. 

Water Flea Study for Bloodsports 6

Water Flea - Photoshop study

One of the National Geographic Best Micro-Photos of 2011 (Joan Röhl, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology/Nikon Small World).  

Started out prepping for this challenge. I had already decided that this was going to be a water dwelling creature.  Did not want to get into the fierce beasties as I know I need way more practice with those.  I really liked this image of a water flea - limited pallet - something  know I need to practice on plus the idea of being able to see internal organs. 

Bloodsports Challenge Miyazaki Re-Marketed! final

Miyazaki Re-Marketed! - final

Here is the version submitted for the Miyazaki Re-Marketed! Bloodsports Challenge.  As ever I would have hoped to put some more time into this. I think I may go back and work on this a bit more.  I have to say the detail I looked most in this was this- 

Spirited Away

All told this bit took about 10 min.  What does that say..

Comps for Miyazaki Re-Marketed!

Comps  for Miyazaki Challenge

Here are the thumbs and comps for the last Crimson Daggers Bloodsports challenge.  It was a close thing between these but in the end I worked up the one on the bottom right.  To be honest I should have done some more work on this composition.  It changed a lot after this point which I suppose is not best practice.  

Relax - Animation

Relax from The Station on Vimeo.

Directed by Peter Donnelly, Produced by Paul Kelly. Animation by Ben Harper and Sean Mullen.

Study for Miyazaki Re-Marketed!

Cloth rendering study - Photoshop

This was a quick study I did for the  bloodsports Miyazaki Re-Marketed challenge. The value range and colour on this were both limited and I guess I didn't nail it very well.  This was after 2 hours.  I definitely struggled.  Towards the end I got a better process going but 2 hours was all I could put into this. I have found a great reference with similar challenges.  I will try this type of image again.

Girl Portrait in Photoshop

Girl Portrait Photoshop

This was practice piece for the bloodsports challenge.  Done in Photoshop in about 2 hours from a photo reference.
I suck at these.  It takes me a while to resolve features.  The most successful approach so far has been to paint in masses and then refine the placement of features. It can be very ugly for a long time.   

Still life - Morla Gorilla Model

Morla Gorilla Model

I was watching  a still life demo by Awesome Horse.  While I was watching/listening I figured I might as well do something.  So I did a study of the morla gorilla model I used here. Morla is the Irish word for plastecine.  Every young kid in school gets to play with it at some time making snakes and the like.  
This study was a lot harder than I thought it would be probably because of all the colours.  Anyway It took me about as long as the livestream.  The stream itself is every Saturday - evening for me- but well worth checking out. 

Check out Punk Economics

I try not to mix anything else into this blog- keep it just for study but here is a crossover.  

It is  Punk Economics produced by David McWilliams and Irish economist.  People in Ireland have by necessity all become amateur economists.   David s is a professional economist.  Stuff that 10 years ago Irish people would have dozed off at the mention of now forms the basis of casual conversation and jokes.  In case you don't know Ireland is currently in the process of paying  billions to bondholders  to keep the European 'project' afloat.   The video is a product of this cocktail. 

Gorilla Study -Crimson Daggers Bloodsports challenge - final

Gorilla Guardians Bloodsports final

Here is the submitted piece for the final.  Lost all dynamism in the pose that I started off with. The arm is a bit wonky and there was a cop out on the foliage.  Gorilla ended up way to contemplative.   I suppose in that way it failed the brief.   I used colours in title. I liked the planet but most of it got lost when rendered.  So the final product drifted along way from the thumbnail and the drift was not all good. Next time...

Gorilla Study -Crimson Daggers Bloodsports challenge part 4

Jungle Photoshop study

This was a study I did to get some ideas for rendering a jungle environment.  I did this reasonably quickly.  About 90 minutes I think.  It went by really fast.

Gorilla Study -Crimson Daggers Bloodsports challenge Part 3

Morla Gorilla

I figured I would do something new so I made a model out of plasticine.  In Ireland plasticine is called morla (Irish word).    In truth it was a very rough modelling.  Took me an hour or so.  I took some photos at different angles. It was primarily to get some help with rendering.    This may or may not have helped as you will see in the next step

Gorilla Study -Crimson Daggers Bloodsports challenge part 2

Thumbs - gorilla

 Above  are the series of thumbs that I worked on.  I dropped the more static ones and went wit the following.  Looking at the now possibly the first standing pose would have been stronger but below is what got worked on.  I added in some colour which broadly was the final colour scheme. 

Chosen pose

Gorilla Study -Crimson Daggers Bloodsports challenge

Gorilla Photoshop Study 3 hrs

I went ahead and took part in the last Crimson Daggers Bloodsports challenge.  This is becoming a big commitment as the pace I work at and the time it takes to do the studies and get the piece to any level of finish is pretty much all the time I have available.  They are proving to be really good at getting a working process together and forcing me to make decisions and stick with them.  So for that reason I have stuck with them.  Besides that Dan Warren is giving a lot of coaching and there  are a group of people doing them so it is probably closer to a college situation.  So for now other projects + goals are on hold.  Anyway above is a study for what was the Gorilla Guardian IP.  

45 minutes

90 minutes

Reference

The Elusive Grand Landscape

Came accross this resource online.  

The StrobeOhio Blog: Workshop Wednesday

This site is dedicated to photography and  by association Photoshop.  They have a great video resource.  I watched one on landscpe photography which was great.  I dont do much in the way of photography other than gathering images for reference but ..

whether photography or for image making purposes the same challenge must be met.   How to produce an image that moves us and among all the possible subjects landscapes may be the most difficult. 

This presentation by Moose Peterson is great. 

He talks about how he builds an image and provides examples of how light, colour and texture build towards a great composition.  If your not much into the photography dont worry the vast proportin of the presentaion is about the image not the equipment.  Interestingly most of the questions at the conclusion were about the equipment...............

Moose also has a website full of images and instruction. 

Gauntlet challenge -Submitted Entry

Gauntlet challenge -Submitted entry

Well with time pushing on and alot of work to do I got cracking on the image.  I did make composition changes as I went along.  I did this work over 5 evenings maybe 3 hours each evening and I still didn't finish it. Still lots of detail to be added and rendering for the main light source + some environmental work.  I got it as far as I could. They all look very wooden.  I may go back and finish when I have had more practice. .  .

Gauntlet Challenge -archer study

With 3 characters left I choose to work on the archer next .

Archer Photoshop Study

  I was particularly interested in getting a good image with hands available.  Te reference colour was not ideal but the hands were visible. I had two more characters left but was running out of time as I knew rendering all 4 characters would take time.  So rather than taking time to do last 2 studies I went straight to the final composition . 

Gauntlet Challenge -Thumbnails

Thumbnail sketches

The main aim of the Gauntlet  challenge was to establish a good composition.  I did some thumbnails but locked into a composition early on and then tweaked it as I went along.  I could have been more adventurous but with 4 characters and my poor anatomy skills - this was enough for now. 

Gaunlet Challenge - Female Warrior Study 1

Female Warrior Photoshop Study

I took part in the Crimson Daggers Bloodsports challenge no 3 -Gauntlet.  So the first study I did was of a female warrior.  I found a reference and completed the study.  The main reason I chose this image was because of the costume.  Rendering a lot of textures.  The skin tones were off. 

Lawrie Williamson

 Long Bar Dogs    Lawrie Williamson

Lawrie Williamson is an artist I came upon while randomly searching for something else.  The subject matter for most of the most recent work available is  of flat capped men in pubs and outdoors with dogs and other animals.  The treatment of these subjects is what lends theses images their life.  The medium of oil appears to be applied in washes and the light dances around the image picking out just enough detail.  Check them out.

ARKHIPOV Abram, Ice passed - Masters Study 1

After Arkhipov - The Ice Has Passed Photoshop Study

 This is a Photoshop study I completed of a Arkhipovs Ice passed.

 

Arkhipov -The Ice Has Passed  (1895)

The  reference was downloaded from the site 200 Russian Painters. 

I wanted to do a study to improve my brushwork and have a painterly look.  I used just 2 brushes in this.  I had originally planned to do it all with one.  All the figures were completed with one and when it came to the landscape I reverted to a hard round brush for some areas.  It took me about 8 hours over 3 sessions. 

 I chose this painting as it has great light. I don't get to see very much of this kind of light where I live and especially this time of year.

I really enjoyed doing this and I will definitely return to do some more. 

 

Swamp Elder - Final

Following on from the previous post  I went away and reworked the swamp elder piece. 

I addressed the creature by designing a alligator / human.  I probably should have pushed this design further but anyway.  I put in some light to add some focus.  I added some eggs just to give it more narrative.  So that's it.  That's all I am going to do on this one.  Lessons learned, will move on to the next challenge 'Gauntlet'.  No doubht will learn a whole lot of lessons there too...

Swamp Elder Submission

Swamp Elder

After completing the studies I went ahead and put this image together.  I went for a pool with some ruins and misty background.  As for the elder it was a total cop out.  I did not go further and design a beast of any description but simply rendered out an alligator of sorts. About 6-8 hours work.  

This is what I submitted for the challenge. 

When I looked at it again in the cold light of day I thought not a great result and I should have pushed further.  Sooooo I took this image and reworked it some more. 

Swamp Elder Studies part 2

To get some more studies in for the swamp elder challenge I did a study of a portion of a painting by Frederic Edwin Church titled Heart of the Andes. 

Heart of the Andes  Photoshop study

It was recently  profiled on Charley Parkers Lines and Colours blog.  I would have liked to have worked more on this but time was moving on.  

I had some photos from a swamp I took a tour in, which was outside New Orleans and I did a quick study from one. This I should have definitely spent more time on.

Swamp study

Anyway time had run out and I need to forge ahead and put the image together.  The final part was a very quick set of alligator studies. 

Alligators Study

Time was up.  Had to get an image together. 

Alligator texture study- Swamp Elder

Alligator texture study

I decided to go ahead and try the Crimson Daggers Swamp Elder Challenge.  So I did started putting together some studies that should help.  The studies were what I could complete before the Christmas holidays.  This was a texture study in Photoshop.