Still working on defining a real solid look for the short, but we're getting there!
eth.
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
5.22.2014
New things coming down the pipe?
Not a whole lot of new stuff I can show at the moment, but I have been working on a handful of personal things. These are a bunch of little concepts/background paintings done for an animation project with a buddy of mine.
Still working on defining a real solid look for the short, but we're getting there!
Still working on defining a real solid look for the short, but we're getting there!
11.23.2013
More more Dragons of Elanthia concept art.
Hey guys! I figure as long as I can share some of the work that I've been doing on Dragons of Elanthia, I'm going to do so.
So these are some various concepts, some from a long time ago, some from more recently. You can probably tell which is which.
Also, I wanted to mention, next time you guys post some work be sure to take advantage of the option to add labels to your post. (in the blogger interface it's on the right side) Google will index those as relevant search keywords so that sites like chimera come up in random google searches. You may already know all this, but as general practice, tag the crap out of you stuff (especially on Deviantart). I'm only mentioning it because I recently got an awesome freelance job just because the AD at a publication searched for "pulp illustrators" or something and my work happened to show up on google.
I believe it could easily be as obnoxious as hashtag abuse, but one of the most difficult parts of being a professional in my experience is getting your work in front of people, so you might as well create as many opportunities for it to happen as possible, even if it's on accident!
eth.
11.07.2013
More Dragons of Elanthia concept art
Here's some more, folks! Also, if you want to learn a thing or two about zbrush, check out this twitch tv channel that we started at work, my buddy Roder knows more about that program than anyone I know and he's been streaming his work and talking about it.
http://www.twitch.tv/simutronics
eth.
http://www.twitch.tv/simutronics
10.29.2013
Dragons of Elanthia concept art
Guys and gals! Guess what?! I can finally post some of the work that I've done this year on the game our studio has been working on, Dragons of Elanthia. You've probably already seen me talking it up on Facebook and stuff, but as long as I'm posting the work I'm going to post links too. Share with your friends, please!
eth.
11.30.2012
recent sketches
Not all concepty, really. Some are illustrationy. I'm trying not to spend too much time on any of them though. They're all under 45 minutes I think. I'm going through a purple phase.
Comments and crits would be helpful. I think you may see more actual design stuff from me soon, who knows.
Also--nice work all around, everybody. And thank you, Donal for keeping this blog alive!
eth.
Comments and crits would be helpful. I think you may see more actual design stuff from me soon, who knows.
Also--nice work all around, everybody. And thank you, Donal for keeping this blog alive!
eth.
7.11.2012
071112_studies
By Dustin's recommendation I did these 15 min. photo studies.Below them are some quick little 5 or 10 min vehicle sketches that I did yesterday and I'm now seeing how many different ways I could do them better to show their material and everything.I think the number one weakness I have with vehicles and buildings is just plain lack of familiarity with them. It sure is hard to capture the essence of something in a few strokes if you really don't even know what it looks like. Expect more vehicles from me in the future I guess!Comments and crits always welcome.
Also--one of my concept art/illustration heroes, Jaime Jones of artpad.org , just posted a little process thing on his blog that I quite enjoyed just because to me it reinforced in my mind that everybody works differently. Enjoy!
http://www.artpad.org/blog/2012/7/10/process.html
Also--one of my concept art/illustration heroes, Jaime Jones of artpad.org , just posted a little process thing on his blog that I quite enjoyed just because to me it reinforced in my mind that everybody works differently. Enjoy!
http://www.artpad.org/blog/2012/7/10/process.html
eth.
5.20.2011
thoughts on environments
I was thinking it might be a good idea for us to each kind of establish what it is we feel we really want to work on or what our biggest weaknesses are. And also to highlight the ones that are the obvious weaknesses and the ones we might typically try to ignore. This could be especially effective for getting quick improvement on these issues. If we all know everyone else's weaknesses and what they're focusing on, critiques can be tailor made so we don't linger on what's unimportant and just focus on tuning up the weakest link.
For me, the one I try to ignore is my difficulty with hard lined objects. Buildings, machines, etc. So that's one thing that I usually just try to carefully avoid and now I want to try to tackle head on, no matter how embarrassing.
So with that said I started looking at the work of artists that I really admire in terms of environments and everything else and try to piece together information about why what they do looks so good. Here are my thoughts. Please comment and your own.
I snagged all these images but one from the CA.org EOW category winners and will credit them accordingly. The first is a sketch by Andrew Ley. What I was noticing as I looked at all of these works amidst the rest of the EOW competitors was that the ones that fell flat didn't really do so because of design, though that was part of it, they were mostly just flat and had no sense of space whatsoever. When I started trying to figure out why and how these works particularly are successful I started to see some running trends.
The first of these is that in the most effective concept pieces, the artist took every chance they had to use perspective. Every chance. It's to the point where I would wonder if the design is almost determined by the needs of the image at times, meaning the shapes of buildings and their surroundings change in accordance with the composition, not just the ideals of the artist. In Andrew's piece he's turned the ground plane into a grid so we can easily see receding space as well as using atmospheric perspective. He also reinforces the perspective by having repeating columns on the sides that are basically perspective markers. The scratchy lines on the pavement also make sure that the ground really appears flat.
The next guy, Stokes does some of the same tricks. He pushes the atmospheric perspective to really make things go back in space. He uses another dominant vanishing point in his composition but he introduces something interesting. He doesn't just have pipes receding into space, he makes catwalks and planks that zigzag across them which give us some real scale and distance, especially with the figure. It's also good to note that neither of these guys made the horizon line parallel to the picture plane, always on a tilt.
Craig Mullins is of course the man, and one thing that I noticed about his works is that whenever he has flat surfaces, any at all in his environments, he puts a texture or pattern on them to let us see how it recedes. Rarely do you ever see him use flat color. The result is this awesome grid floor which, in addition to the figures standing on it, let us see tons of space. He's a master of atmosphere too, and that helps.
This piece by Hideyoshi does a lot of things well but falls short in other ways. It's increbly detailed and complex, but it really just goes to show how you cannot use some of the rules of perspective and ignore others if you want to create something that is really successful. His super tight line drawing is beautiful in the foreground but as you get to distant buildings with the same amount of detail, it destroys the space and the illusion is lost, the lack of atmosphere and loss of detail that you find Mullins' work I think is really holding back this piece, no matter how good it is technically. That said, this guy is consistently awesome and this is a much older piece of his, talk about a draftsman.
That was probably a huge torrent of blather that none of you wanted to hear but verbalizing for myself helped me really solidify things that I'd learned from really looking into these artists' work. I ended up just seeing how I could try to build images with lines and composition to see if I could get THAT right first before I try going into an expanded value range and the use of color. Nothing to sneeze at but I don't think that's really what we're about here anyways. It's learning right? Thoughts please on all of the above and below?
eth.
For me, the one I try to ignore is my difficulty with hard lined objects. Buildings, machines, etc. So that's one thing that I usually just try to carefully avoid and now I want to try to tackle head on, no matter how embarrassing.
So with that said I started looking at the work of artists that I really admire in terms of environments and everything else and try to piece together information about why what they do looks so good. Here are my thoughts. Please comment and your own.
I snagged all these images but one from the CA.org EOW category winners and will credit them accordingly. The first is a sketch by Andrew Ley. What I was noticing as I looked at all of these works amidst the rest of the EOW competitors was that the ones that fell flat didn't really do so because of design, though that was part of it, they were mostly just flat and had no sense of space whatsoever. When I started trying to figure out why and how these works particularly are successful I started to see some running trends.
The first of these is that in the most effective concept pieces, the artist took every chance they had to use perspective. Every chance. It's to the point where I would wonder if the design is almost determined by the needs of the image at times, meaning the shapes of buildings and their surroundings change in accordance with the composition, not just the ideals of the artist. In Andrew's piece he's turned the ground plane into a grid so we can easily see receding space as well as using atmospheric perspective. He also reinforces the perspective by having repeating columns on the sides that are basically perspective markers. The scratchy lines on the pavement also make sure that the ground really appears flat.The next guy, Stokes does some of the same tricks. He pushes the atmospheric perspective to really make things go back in space. He uses another dominant vanishing point in his composition but he introduces something interesting. He doesn't just have pipes receding into space, he makes catwalks and planks that zigzag across them which give us some real scale and distance, especially with the figure. It's also good to note that neither of these guys made the horizon line parallel to the picture plane, always on a tilt.
Craig Mullins is of course the man, and one thing that I noticed about his works is that whenever he has flat surfaces, any at all in his environments, he puts a texture or pattern on them to let us see how it recedes. Rarely do you ever see him use flat color. The result is this awesome grid floor which, in addition to the figures standing on it, let us see tons of space. He's a master of atmosphere too, and that helps.
This piece by Hideyoshi does a lot of things well but falls short in other ways. It's increbly detailed and complex, but it really just goes to show how you cannot use some of the rules of perspective and ignore others if you want to create something that is really successful. His super tight line drawing is beautiful in the foreground but as you get to distant buildings with the same amount of detail, it destroys the space and the illusion is lost, the lack of atmosphere and loss of detail that you find Mullins' work I think is really holding back this piece, no matter how good it is technically. That said, this guy is consistently awesome and this is a much older piece of his, talk about a draftsman.
That was probably a huge torrent of blather that none of you wanted to hear but verbalizing for myself helped me really solidify things that I'd learned from really looking into these artists' work. I ended up just seeing how I could try to build images with lines and composition to see if I could get THAT right first before I try going into an expanded value range and the use of color. Nothing to sneeze at but I don't think that's really what we're about here anyways. It's learning right? Thoughts please on all of the above and below?
eth.
5.18.2011
051811_the third!
Soo for the time being I'm just going to let this be a place-holder post, because I'd like to elaborate on it a little bit more, but I'll post what I've been screwing around with --architectural environments... Comments and critiques, as always. I'm just trying to figure out how to make things look believable at the moment. I think I need to invest in some different types of brushes.
Alison--since it seems like we can't post images in the comments, I was thinking maybe we should take advantage of our digital medium and do paintovers of each other's work to show what we're talking about. I know that on CA in the past you used to see a lot more of this going on.
With this one I would mostly just suggest you consider your lightsource! Give us some shadows and highlights, the face on this one looks really nice but seems like there is maybe just a flash right in her face or something?
Alison--since it seems like we can't post images in the comments, I was thinking maybe we should take advantage of our digital medium and do paintovers of each other's work to show what we're talking about. I know that on CA in the past you used to see a lot more of this going on.
With this one I would mostly just suggest you consider your lightsource! Give us some shadows and highlights, the face on this one looks really nice but seems like there is maybe just a flash right in her face or something?
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