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NeoGAF Drawing-a-Day Thread
- Thread starter Keikaku
- Start date
User 73706
Banned
Would have joined this earlier but I was banned.
Scribbled out some very basic designs for the 8 main characters of Project Livechamber which is kind of a spiritual successor to Halo. These 8 are the primary focus of the Campaign, which is ruled by 5 elements: Blood, Soul, Hive, and Mind, as well as an elusive quintessential element known as Aether. The world itself is a Dyson Sphere named Trinity.
The naming scheme is simple: there are 8 primary sapient races that exist on the shield world that each have their own "ring" divided for them in terms of territory. Each species has an elemental affinity; their primary element is first, and their secondary element second.
Blood elementals are "purebred" humans with a few basic genetic augmentations. At puberty, they have the choice to receive further enhancements and choose their fighting style by branching off as a separate subspecies. Barominid are archer-samurai with traditional values and wooden finishes to some of their armor while Neominid are more destructive CQC/grenadier types with Tron/Daft Punk-influenced suits. Maestrom and Deejay are a Barominid and Neominid, respectively; Maestrom is Deejay's father.
Soul elementals are "human enough" but have some radically different changes to their biologies under the hood. Drei is a Nullpunk (from the German "nullpunkt" meaning "zero") which are a race of warriors that have bonded with a Becryon symbiote. In terms of power, it's something like Iron Man's pulse beams mixed with the genetic enhancements of Halo-era Spartans and psionics resembling things Waterbenders can do. Luca is an ambassador for the Hadal, which are a bioluminescent mega-organism consisting of much smaller individual underwater micro-organisms. During infancy, the Nullpunks viewed as weak or incompatible with symbiotes are cast into the most dense parts of the ocean; sometimes the undersea life will take them in. Luca draws a bit of inspiration from bioluminescent sea life and Samus's Power Suit.
Hive elementals are a tricky sort, but they're generally the most inhuman and operate on hiveminds. Tempest is a Mechromethean, a general title for artifical machine life that seek refuge in a singular area. He has some similarities with Robo from Chrono Trigger. Most notably, however, he was created by "Father Time" himself, and seems to run on time. That is, he's biologically immortal as long as the flow of spacetime itself remains unchanged. He carries the ashes of his creator in his chest, and has a degree of eccentricity due to what his creator taught him. Vita, the Hivemind, is part of a Prawn-style race known as the Sceraphid that operate under a Queen. Under the mask, he looks something like a Prawn mixed with a Persian cat mixed with a pirahna. They use translators to speak with other races but haven't fully grasped English sentence structure, giving them a bit of a William Shatner inflection. They mostly eat wood in all its incarnations and carry a handy-dandy "toaster pistol" sidearm at all times to prepare it in the field, which doubles as a melee weapon.
Mind elementals have heavy mastery of psionics. Isulven is a member of the Becryon race, which can independently survive as soldiers. "He" reproduces asexually but refers to himself with male pronouns, and has a degree of insecurity over the concept of symbiosis with a Nullpunk. Becryon are sort of "blob monsters" with power over water and ice and can change their density and to some extent shape at will. Horus is a Sheolite and takes some cues from the Chozo race, particularly that he's from a humanoid bird species. Horus is a title, not a name - he heads his race's Senate and a "Horus" is a position of high political power.
The doodles took about 45 minutes but I'll try and get some more done of them tomorrow. I use a Wacom Bamboo tablet and Photoshop CS5.
Scribbled out some very basic designs for the 8 main characters of Project Livechamber which is kind of a spiritual successor to Halo. These 8 are the primary focus of the Campaign, which is ruled by 5 elements: Blood, Soul, Hive, and Mind, as well as an elusive quintessential element known as Aether. The world itself is a Dyson Sphere named Trinity.
The naming scheme is simple: there are 8 primary sapient races that exist on the shield world that each have their own "ring" divided for them in terms of territory. Each species has an elemental affinity; their primary element is first, and their secondary element second.
Blood elementals are "purebred" humans with a few basic genetic augmentations. At puberty, they have the choice to receive further enhancements and choose their fighting style by branching off as a separate subspecies. Barominid are archer-samurai with traditional values and wooden finishes to some of their armor while Neominid are more destructive CQC/grenadier types with Tron/Daft Punk-influenced suits. Maestrom and Deejay are a Barominid and Neominid, respectively; Maestrom is Deejay's father.
Soul elementals are "human enough" but have some radically different changes to their biologies under the hood. Drei is a Nullpunk (from the German "nullpunkt" meaning "zero") which are a race of warriors that have bonded with a Becryon symbiote. In terms of power, it's something like Iron Man's pulse beams mixed with the genetic enhancements of Halo-era Spartans and psionics resembling things Waterbenders can do. Luca is an ambassador for the Hadal, which are a bioluminescent mega-organism consisting of much smaller individual underwater micro-organisms. During infancy, the Nullpunks viewed as weak or incompatible with symbiotes are cast into the most dense parts of the ocean; sometimes the undersea life will take them in. Luca draws a bit of inspiration from bioluminescent sea life and Samus's Power Suit.
Hive elementals are a tricky sort, but they're generally the most inhuman and operate on hiveminds. Tempest is a Mechromethean, a general title for artifical machine life that seek refuge in a singular area. He has some similarities with Robo from Chrono Trigger. Most notably, however, he was created by "Father Time" himself, and seems to run on time. That is, he's biologically immortal as long as the flow of spacetime itself remains unchanged. He carries the ashes of his creator in his chest, and has a degree of eccentricity due to what his creator taught him. Vita, the Hivemind, is part of a Prawn-style race known as the Sceraphid that operate under a Queen. Under the mask, he looks something like a Prawn mixed with a Persian cat mixed with a pirahna. They use translators to speak with other races but haven't fully grasped English sentence structure, giving them a bit of a William Shatner inflection. They mostly eat wood in all its incarnations and carry a handy-dandy "toaster pistol" sidearm at all times to prepare it in the field, which doubles as a melee weapon.
Mind elementals have heavy mastery of psionics. Isulven is a member of the Becryon race, which can independently survive as soldiers. "He" reproduces asexually but refers to himself with male pronouns, and has a degree of insecurity over the concept of symbiosis with a Nullpunk. Becryon are sort of "blob monsters" with power over water and ice and can change their density and to some extent shape at will. Horus is a Sheolite and takes some cues from the Chozo race, particularly that he's from a humanoid bird species. Horus is a title, not a name - he heads his race's Senate and a "Horus" is a position of high political power.
The doodles took about 45 minutes but I'll try and get some more done of them tomorrow. I use a Wacom Bamboo tablet and Photoshop CS5.
kame-sennin
Member
Game of Thrones inspired (Ned's older brother?)
Time: 10 min
Medium: digital
Critique would be appreciated.
Time: 10 min
Medium: digital
Critique would be appreciated.
Think I will use this to practice Photoshop!
Day 1
Tools: Photoshop CS6, Graphire 4
Time: 2 hrs?
WOW!!! Amazing! You should make that a print that's beautiful!
Think I will use this to practice Photoshop!
Day 1
Tools: Photoshop CS6, Graphire 4
Time: 2 hrs?
That's beautiful. Do you use a reference?
Shogmaster
Member
That's scary good, Feran. Also, big fan of eucharis' stuff.
I have catching up to do. Got unbanned like an hour ago.
These are from a car sketching thread that I started few days ago in another forum.
All done in Manga Studio 5 on my trusty Fujitsu T902 Tablet PC.
15 minutes. 3 days ago.
15 minutes. 3 days ago.
20 minutes. 2 days ago.
30 minutes. 2 days ago.
25 minutes. Yesterday.
4.5 hours. Yesterday.
And something not a car. 10 minutes. Today.
I have catching up to do. Got unbanned like an hour ago.
These are from a car sketching thread that I started few days ago in another forum.
All done in Manga Studio 5 on my trusty Fujitsu T902 Tablet PC.
15 minutes. 3 days ago.
15 minutes. 3 days ago.
20 minutes. 2 days ago.
30 minutes. 2 days ago.
25 minutes. Yesterday.
4.5 hours. Yesterday.
And something not a car. 10 minutes. Today.
Culebra 64
Member
Oh snap, how'd I miss this thread? Ya'll some talented mofos, keep em coming please.
Shog, do you use a ruler at all while sketching those?
Shogmaster
Member
The lines aren't very straight if you look carefully. It's all freehand on a Tablet PC.
Argh. Only a few days in and I've already fallen behind!
Day 3: At the behest of Ken and "Natural Way to Draw," I did a contour drawing of my hand. (got a little cut off by the scanner.
Time: ~16 minutes
Medium: Pencil
Notes: I had the same problem I always have with contour drawing where my eyes and my hand don't want to cooperate. The book warns about your letting your eyes get ahead of your hand but I seem to have the opposite problem; my hands start going ahead while my eyes are going slowly on one spot. :/
Day 4: More books. Or a textbook and a post it note rather.
Time: ~20 min
Medium: Pencil
Picture of the book in question.
http://i.minus.com/iblc4Z7jmEGbyY.jpg
I'll do Day 5 later today. Tired now. lol
Day 3: At the behest of Ken and "Natural Way to Draw," I did a contour drawing of my hand. (got a little cut off by the scanner.
Time: ~16 minutes
Medium: Pencil
Notes: I had the same problem I always have with contour drawing where my eyes and my hand don't want to cooperate. The book warns about your letting your eyes get ahead of your hand but I seem to have the opposite problem; my hands start going ahead while my eyes are going slowly on one spot. :/
Day 4: More books. Or a textbook and a post it note rather.
Time: ~20 min
Medium: Pencil
Picture of the book in question.
http://i.minus.com/iblc4Z7jmEGbyY.jpg
I'll do Day 5 later today. Tired now. lol
Alright here we go, missed sketches.
Day 3 10 minutes or so, done quite late at night. Ballpoint pen.
Day 4 ~15 minutes, lost count. Felt like drawing someone holding a sword and thought of Psylocke, so I gave her a shot.
Day 5 ~25 minutes. Wanted to draw a hand, used my own as ref. Perspective is a bit off. The rest just appeared, don't know what happened.
Day 6 ~30 minutes. Wanted to try my hand at armour design. Not very pleased with it. Also sort of lost interest half way through so it became very half-assed.
Well that's all for now. As always, any and all critique and comments are appreciated. If you see anything particularly wrong, feel free to shout all you want at me!
Day 3 10 minutes or so, done quite late at night. Ballpoint pen.
Day 4 ~15 minutes, lost count. Felt like drawing someone holding a sword and thought of Psylocke, so I gave her a shot.
Day 5 ~25 minutes. Wanted to draw a hand, used my own as ref. Perspective is a bit off. The rest just appeared, don't know what happened.
Day 6 ~30 minutes. Wanted to try my hand at armour design. Not very pleased with it. Also sort of lost interest half way through so it became very half-assed.
Well that's all for now. As always, any and all critique and comments are appreciated. If you see anything particularly wrong, feel free to shout all you want at me!
Monocle
Member
The key with that exercise is to focus on the tip of your pencil, as though it's an extra finger. You want to get the feeling that you're literally running the point along the edges of what you're drawing. This tactile method of contour drawing is very useful to a degree (especially when you get to cross-contours), but if I were you I'd divide my time between the program in The Natural Way to Draw and learning basic one-point and two-point perspective so that you can place boxes, cylinders, pyramids, spheres, and sphere sections (ellipses) in any position in 3D space. Then I'd do lots of sketches from life and photo reference with blocked-in masses using those basic shapes, like the simplest of Peter Han's chalkboard drawings.
Mass construction in correct perspective is one of the best things to learn early as a developing artist because it will help unstick you from the 2D mode of contour that's so easy to get trapped in. It's perfectly fine to study all of these things at once, at whatever pace you want. The progress you make in one area will carry over to the others, and if you get tired with one kind of practice or stuck on some of the more advanced bits, you'll always have something to go back to.
In connection with your contour exercises, practicing abstract sketches like these are great for getting the hang of creating form with line.
Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling is the only perspective manual you should need for some time. For general methods, you can't do much better than Drawn to Life by Walt Stanchfield and Don Hahn, and pretty much anything written by Andrew Loomis.
Hope you don't mind this bit of unsolicited advice. I'm thinking lurkers might also benefit from some of the resources I'm posting.
AFollowerNotALeader
Member
Time: 1hr, 25mins
Medium: GIMP + Wacom Bamboo
Notes: Orginally this was going to be considerably more surreal with a star-scape + planets in the background that implied it was not on Earth. But drawing the platforms over-ran spectacularly (I did them several times) and I ditched that idea.
Evolved1
make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
OatmealMu, your WIP/timelaspe gifs are much appreciated.
I think it's great for people learning faces to see how you build them with value as opposed to drawing hard outlines which is what most beginners often do by default and get discouraged...
I think it's great for people learning faces to see how you build them with value as opposed to drawing hard outlines which is what most beginners often do by default and get discouraged...
I want to be able to paint as well as this one day.
Time: 25 minutes
Medium: Graphite on recycled paper
Notes: Sorry for the crappy scan, my scanner is on its way out. Anyway, I took a trip to the natural history museum today and drew from the displays - something I haven't been able to do over the last year since I was working on my thesis. They've got a ton of taxidermied animals, I really enjoy drawing the birds.
triplestation
Member
I like this a lot
Seconding this.
Glad you like them. I wish more artists showed their process, although I can understand why most wouldn't. The only reason I'm making process GIFs is because I habitually make new layers every 15 minutes or so. Each frame of the GIF is a different layer, so it's easy to animate it.
And, yeah, it's easy to get caught up in line work when painting. For the longest time, I only did line work as painting was mystifying to me. Once I got a tablet, I was able to experiment without worrying about the cost of paint. I still like sketching things out first, but for quickly figuring out what works and what doesn't, nothing beats laying down big, fat blobs of paint.
There's some Bruce Lee inspirational thing about practicing that I can't find. Pretend I posted it here.
I posted a link to my brushes earlier in the thread. The Dropbox link should still be live. I actually used two different brushes for the portrait. The first one was a square brush that didn't work well at all. It was absolutely terrible for blocking in tones. Neat texture, though. I used a second brush to finish off the painting. It was one of the charcoal brushes with pressure sensitivity turned on.
My eyes they burn so much. The brightness on my computer screen was at like 50 (for night time viewing)... I feel like I need new glasses...
Eheheh The Shogmaster that draws pro cars & dinosaurs in 10 mins (that skill isn't even fair lol) likes my stuff. Thank you ;__;
Loxley and oatmealmu amazing work I've run out of adjectives.
FUBAR McDangles
Member
Just pencil and paper with below as reference.
I've put in about an hour or so for the last three days. I'm not done yet, I have to do the body behind the head and the whiskers.
I work at a day care and all the kids are split into five groups based on age. Tigers, Lions, Monkeys, Zebras, and Giraffes. I plan on doing one for each group.
Ok, first my make up from yesterday. (Note: I didn't put a lot of effort into this)
Photoshop CS5, Intuos 3
Now for today's piece:
Photoshop CS5, Intuos 3
Was playing around with the dry media brushes, and really got into this stupid little stump.
Time: Like, 2 minutes
Photoshop CS5, Intuos 3
Now for today's piece:
Time: About 30 minutes?
Photoshop CS5, Intuos 3
Was playing around with the dry media brushes, and really got into this stupid little stump.
Shogmaster
Member
Thanks. That robot is pretty swank.
Anything is easy when you draw it over and over. I drew so many dinosaurs for Jurassic Park toys, it's second nature.
You should shop your skills around to toy companies for freelance. That style would be great fit for girls line presentation work. Maybe even your own dolls series, ya? If you were in LA, you could hit up like at least 3 places for gigs (Mattel, Spinmaster, MGA, Jakks Pacific etc...)
OK, today's doodle. I might have another none vehicle one later.
Manga Studio 5, Fujitsu T902, took about 2 and a half R.A.M. songs. It's an autonomous urban pacification vehicle.
EDIT: Hey Modus, you should really check out Manga Studio 5. Way better than Sketchbook Pro. Only $80. Much better feel for brushes. It's so good that I kicked Sketchbook Pro, SAI, and Painter 12 to the curve.
User 73706
Banned
Finally nailed down a look I'm happy with for my aforementioned race of bug-people, the Sceraphid. Vita in particular.
They're meant to be equal parts Prawn, Persian cat and pirahna but lean more towards the clunky-looking charm of the Persian than to look fearsome at all.
They have a gnarly overbite and coupled with the huge eyes it's meant to make them look a little primitive compared to the other races.
EDIT: Took about 45 minutes, Wacom Bamboo on Photoshop CS5.
They're meant to be equal parts Prawn, Persian cat and pirahna but lean more towards the clunky-looking charm of the Persian than to look fearsome at all.
They have a gnarly overbite and coupled with the huge eyes it's meant to make them look a little primitive compared to the other races.
EDIT: Took about 45 minutes, Wacom Bamboo on Photoshop CS5.