long time no write

Sorry I have been gone for so long.  Summer seems to be my time of year for freelance illustration work so I have been busy.  None of the work has been glamorous but its work and it pays.  So here is a sample of some of what I have been doing I will upload more later I just have these ones handy so here it is.

silver hand

I made this for a project I did a while back but never really got to show it.  So I will post it here for now.

working a bit more on the model

well I still working on my elf character, added some more detail but I think that the overall image is starting to get a bit garbled.  I need to find a way to stylize it a bit more.  But that is a problem for another day.

some more zbrush stuff

here is an update on my newest zbrush character.  I know that I still have a long ways to go but with each one I figure out more and more.

new zbrush character

so I caught a bad cold last week and didn't feel much like posting much.  I am all better but before I get back to posting about my painting I figured I would show what I have come up with in zbrush.

starting to puzzle out perspective issues

  I have been working on this castle picture in my free time for a little over a week now.  It is coming along but part of the point of doing this picture is to give me a chance to experiment.  I am trying out a bunch of things like focusing on value before worrying about color,  incorporating photographic images in a manner that doesn't overwhelm or dominate the picture,  trying out building objects by blocking in shapes instead of line work,  and figuring out how to combine photos and drawing and come out with good perspective throughout the painting.  As I worked though I found that the castle and the two pieces of the village just weren't meshing. They looked wrong.  So this was my solution, I don't know if it was a good one but it seems to be working.  I added a black layer and then turned it to about 40% opacity.  Then I stared blocking in the building structures I wanted to keep as well as start adjusting for perspective.  There is probably a better way to do this but I have not found it yet.  Anyway this is what I have so far...

more detail

still working on this painting, added a bit more detail but I am still not happy with the placement of everything.  Its coming along though.

more painting stuff

I have found it a bit more difficult to get the photos to mesh but it is coming along.  I still need to fill in the city and I am probably going to simplify some of the detail in the buildings so that it will be a bit simpler to match my painting with the town,  I am also going to add a dock to the shore line as well as make some alterations to the castle, it just doesn't feel right yet.

Castle drawing day 2

Not much to say about this one, still have quite a way to go.  I hope it will turn out.

digital painting with photos

I was about to start another zbrush tutorial today when I saw one on using photos in digital painting.  This is something I have tried a few times with mixed results so I thought I would do this one first.  I am still roughing out my idea but I thought I would post what I have so far.  I am thinking I want it to be a castle by the water with crystals growing out of it.  I haven't decided where I want the castle yet though.

zbrush guy

So I am about as far as I am going to take this one, tomorrow I am thinking I will start the next tutorial.  It turned out all right though I found it difficult to model the eyes right.  I am also not thrilled with the facial structure, I am pretty sure it must be wrong in places.  The point of this though was not to make a masterpiece but instead to just get used to using the tools and interface in zbrush.  I find exercises like this to be useful sometimes because it gives me the opportunity to process what I have learned as well as a safe place to experiment and make mistakes.  I still have a lot to learn but I think this turned out OK.

messing around before I start my next tutorial

So I thought I would play with the tools in zbrush that I have learned so far.  I mostly just wanted to see what I could make and I was not to concerned with accuracy at this point.  It is far from done but I figured I would upload what I have.

I have also spent some time with the program procreate on the ipad.  Here is one of my first attempts at a portrait.  It is surprising the amount of detail possible, but I am still rather clumsy drawing with just my fingers.  The reference photo is one I just randomly selected from pintrist.

Color

I added some color today but I still don't know the tools well enough to get the texture and blending quite right.  Oh well, for my first time using zbrush I think it is turning out rather good.

busy day zbrush post

So today was something of a hectic day for me so I didn't get as much time as I usually do to watch digital tutors tutorial videos and play with zbrush.  All I did was a little fun with trying to pose this character.

day 4 zbrush

I once had a teacher who told me that one of the ways you can tell an amateur from a pro is that when an amateur learns something they try to use it for everything where as a pro knows the proper time to and way to use it.  At the time he was referring to Photoshop filters but I think it applies to a lot of digital tools.  Anyway today was texturing the skin and I may have gone a bit overboard, but that is how we learn.

zbrush day 3

so today I was just adding detail to this zbrush character and continuing to follow the tutorials from digital tutors.

zbrush day 2

well today while I was following the tutorials for zbrush I ran into a bit of a snag.  I bought my copy of zbrush a few years ago with the intention of learning the program, but never got around to it.  When I bought my copy I was told that the cool thing about zbrush was that it updated for free and automatically.  Well fast forward to now and I install the program and start using it but I haven't figured out how to update it yet.  So because I am still using an older version it means that I don't have all the tools that the tutorials have.  I am looking into how to update but it may take a while.  I did Ok with what I had though and here is today's adventure.

zbrush

So my family got me a subscription to digital tutors for Christmas because there are some 3D programs I have always wanted to learn but the classes never carried at school.  So I thought that rather that just randomly posting some of the sketches I am working on maybe I would post some of my successes and failures as I figure this stuff out.  So here is day 1 ( I promise they will get better)