Testing out the new techniques

So, I'm taking a break from the Vampire to work on this Cowboy using the new technique that I read over at William O'Connor's site (see below for more information on that). Its interesting to see how the process builds up slowly. I'm enjoying how the underpainting establishes tonal values quickly. Its easier to see now what needs to be changed to make different areas pop out more than others.

I still have a lot more detail to do. Adding textures into the canvas bag and hat. I'll update later, as I am tired now.

A break from my art: Introducing William (Bill) O'Connor

A friend turned me onto this artist William O'Connor the other day. His stuff is high fantasy; elves, soldiers, dragons, orc etc etc. Turns out he has even designed many of the concept art work for Dungeons and Dragons.

On top of his great gallery he has a page dedicated to showing his digital painting process. Having taken an oil painting class and doing other color studies, his process makes a ton of sense.

He first takes his sketch and color balances the lines to a sepia tone. Then, with another layer on top does on "Underpainting" to setup is tonal values throughout the piece.

I'm not going to go through the entire process, but I encourage you to head over to the demo page and check it out for yourself.

edit: Removed the images because I read his copyright information. Sorry Bill, I hope there are no hard feelings.

Digital Painting 2

After talking with some friends and looking at how other people go about this kind of stuff I decided to take some photo-reference of myself in this pose. As you can see, I couldn't replicate the exact pose because it was inhumanly impossible to do so. Which I think works in my favor, because now this pose was more what I had in my head to begin with and looks more natural. Now that the character is nailed down, its time for some color.

Starting another one. This one was inspired by a black priest I saw on TV while watching the news. Thought him being a Vampire would be cool. I'll be working that left foot a lot in this one I imagine. Its just not right and I'm having a hard time figuring it out. Might need someone to pose for me on that one.

Digital Painting

Final? (tweak tweak)

Met with my buddy Vinnie last night and talked about his work at White-Wolf/CCP. After picking his brain about their character designs and such I decided to work on something that is more in their vein for a moment. So this is the beginning sketch of just a "normal" guy you might see walking down the streets of Chicago.

I'll keep adding edits to this post as I add more to it.

Character Development: Brick Bouser

Been working on a cartoon concept for a year or more now with a friend and I'm wanting to get back into the character design process for the show. I've drawn this particular character several times and I feel whatever style I land on with him will set the tone for the rest of the characters. He is one of the two main characters.

For this design I need a character that's full of mucles, and empty of brain. For the muscle I didn't want to go with an Arnold type body build, but more of a World's Strongest Man body type. Lots of muscle bu with a layer of fat there as well. No real definition. I've noticed that the stomach on these guys tends to stick out further than their chest, so thats something I need to push further I think. More to come.

Edit: Added the above pictures "Dueling Bricks" and a face study.

Work: Orthographic views of an Inn

After designing a lot of the different areas that will be in our game the next step is to begin modeling the houses. Our 3D modeler requested I do some more detailed drawings of the different views of all of the buildings. Here is one I finished up of an Inn that is out over the water.

All of the work images I post are copyrighted ISO Interactive, LLC.

Team Fortress Sketchup: Pyro

Been playing a lot of Team Fortress 2 and loving it. The entire design of the game was incredibly well thought out. I love the character designs and the artistic choices. With that in mind, I've decided to sketch up the 9 characters. I'm working on posing mostly. Trying to capture a lot of life and motion.

Here is the Pyro. One of my favorite classes. He's just a loony guy with a flamethrower. What more could you want?!

I decided to try something that Joe showed me and isolated an area and blurred out the areas that I didn't want the viewer to be as interested in. Its pretty cool. I think it would have worked better for this piece had it been in full color though.