Study 01: 100 Air Gestures

A wonderful art friend, Brit and I wanted to learn how to draw acrobatic poses in the air. We decided on doing 100 of them.  The idea was that it takes internalized principles to draw these kinds of poses with great energy and force. I reached the half way point today!
  

My Process 03: Concept to Finish; Female Neuroprancer

Here is the female Version I did of the Neuroprancer creature design!

Napkin sketch.

Planar study for perspective and lighting.

Basic lighting pass.

Refined basic lighting pass.

Added secondary forms pass.

Refining the form pass

Add textures and more refining

Colorized with a new layer

Basic color pass.

Added chroma and harmonized colors.

Post production  on lighting.

Close up of the head.

Eduaction Cast 01: Why Should An Artist learn anatomy?

This is part of a series I'm doing for my students. Please let me know what you think! More to come Soon!

My Process 02: Concept to Finish

 Here is how I go from napkin sketches to a completed render!

The Napkin Sketch: I Started with a hand full of  napkin sketches in order Familiarize myself with the design. Originally, I wanted to combine the flexible gesture of a feline with the head of a bird. I was not satisfied with the design for some time and needed to do further exploration.

The Three P's: After several rounds of sketches, this is what I finally came up with . For novel designs, it can take a while before I am familiar  enough to capture it with a simple line drawing. at this stage i have solved the three P's , the body's Plan, Posture, and Proportion.

The Fourth P, Perspective: Since this design will be interacting with 3d space i need to solve the perspective problem. I create simple volumes by making a planar analysis. 

Rendering Greyscale Pass: After several passes at form correction, I am familiar enough with the design to begin rendering it. as you can see I start my render in greyscale.

Rendering Color Pass: Once I am happy with the greyscale rendering I add color.

Rendering Texture and special Effects Pass: I am now ready to add the final touches to the design. This stage helps really
make it come alive.

Close up!

My Process 01: Painting a Creature Design From Start to Finish

Here Is a Demo of a creature design I am currently Working on for a FB contest.

1.  Getting Big Ideas Out: Napkin sketch: I call my first attempts at creating a design the napkin sketch. It implies rapid drawing where the big ideas are of concern and details are ignored. It isn't something you show to people but is a personal  way to get  ideas out to see if they work in a general way.

 Version two of a napkin sketch but massing in big shapes instead of just line. This one is slightly more developed. I do napkin sketches until I am satisfied with the general idea.

This is the final iteration of the napkin sketch. I am satisfied with the overall idea and can move ahead. Note: After several iterations of sketching the design, I have become very familiar with it. This familiarity is paramount if I want to have a smooth process from beginning to end.

02. Form Exploration , Correction , Familiarity and the Three  P's : After I finish the napkin sketch stage, I need to explore and correct the forms so that the details I add later will work. The degree in which I am familiar with my idea determines how much effort I put into this stage. On a rating scale of familiarity I would say I was about a 3 out of 5. I still needed some exporting to do. Here, I started with putting in the skeleton at the core of the design. This helps to better understand the 3 P's: The body's  Plan, Posture, and Proportion.

I continue the form exploration to the surface with the muscles. Please keep in mind I am already familiar with anatomy.  I need to get the big idea out. This means I don't need much detail to work with . There is a lot going on and being brief and simple is important. I recommend getting very familiar with anatomy before trying to be brief. Know all the details first then simplify later.

03. Rendering: Once I have made corrections and  familiarized myself even further with the design, I am ready to render. I start rendering basic forms first and with multiple passes, I further refine them. The front half is my first pass while the back half is the second pass. Note: there is a big just in the beginning passes but as you see not so much in the later ones.

The second pass is completed for the back half.

I begin to render the second pass for the front side. The black dot in the center indicates where I am going to work next after  I complete this pass.

Second pass is completed for the front side.

Started the Third pass. please toggle back and forth between the images to see the difference.

Third Pass Complete.

Post Processing with Instagram Rise Filter.

Cover Art 02

Here's a look at a cover I'm working on  after an artist @moxham_ on instagram. The impression I got from his character design sketch was a strong  centaur warrior with an armored head, a spear, and sword.

Step 01 Design Sketch:  I decided to do a front view and concentrate on changing the proportions. I maintained the focus on the armored head.

Design Critique: After the design was completed, I thought it would have been better to do a three quarter view in order to show the back legs better. I didn't choose the best view for the design. I will have to make more thumbnails in the beginning so I don't do this again.

Step 02 Design Clean up: After the sketch of the design was finished I made adjustments to fix perspective, gesture and anatomy. Also the design needs to be simplified.  I used colored lines so that I could see my changes easily.

Design Critique: There are still problems I was not able to see during this stage with anatomy. I should have used reference when making corrections. It will end up helping me in the end because I won't run into rendering problems.

Step 03 Create 50% mask: I make a new layer set to multiply mode and fill the character with 50% grey. This allows me to render from a middle value outward to black and to white. It also helps to keep the contour from changing as everything outside the lines are masked away.

Step 04 Create 3 masks for basic rendering: I create one mask for the shadows, lights and, rim lights.
Masking is a wonderful way of keeping a process simple so that big changes are easy. For example, in this video, I am able to toggle an under lit or top lit situation just be inverting the mask. It was originally painted as under lit but I decided to invert. I didn't have to repaint it! Time saved.

Step 05: Polish: This stage is currently still in the works. I apply my understanding of light and anatomy, working slowly to render each form within the hierarchy of focus. Basically, the chest area is the focus for the light. I wanted the head to be dark and mysterious so the contour could stand out. the back legs are finally added.

Step 6 Finish: This stage is currently under construction. Please return later to see how this ends!

Happy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Helpful Bear Production’s Creature Design Contest

Helpful Bear Production is having a creature design contest. "The winning artist will receive our special online promotion of his or her work, along with the hardcover edition of Animals Real and Imagined, personalized and signed by Terryl Whitlatch and including original, beautifully hand drawn creature designs.The winner will also receive a one on one live video chat critique with Terryl Whitlatch." -HBP
This is a design I am going to eventually enter.

Cover Art 01

I'm new to design. In order to get better, I rely on other artists to help me out. First, I find sketches of character or creature designs that stir some emotional response in me. Then, I hold onto that feeling and make sketches of my own, loosely based on the same design elements. Finally, I render a completed image. Here's one I'm working today. It is based on @ajfander on instagram.

Welcome!

This blog is about connecting the habit of drawing with the habit of excellence.  Over time excellent work can become as common as mediocre work. Only rule is that drawing and excellence be approached everyday. Let the struggle begin.