[Voodoo-Mama]

Really nice studies.
I didn't know about this artist, his stuff is very stylised.
I like how the girl laying down turned out, specially her boobs (as weird as that may sound o: )
But the standing one has a bit of wonky anatomy on the way her torso fits into her pelvis, the thing is that I can't find the original one to compare, and since the work is supposed to be highly stylized I'm probably wrong in this crit lol
Looking forward to the enviro!

[stace]

Awe you make me sound like I'm so celebrity around here, but I'm honestly not. XD Just a fellow artist who really wants to work hard and create, I don't even have a job for it yet. I definitely lurk more than I should, gah.

I'm really loving your shark human! The merging of the human and the shark turned out nice, I'm excited to see what the rest of him will look like. I need to work on mine today, it's been something I can't stop thinking about. Your throne piece is looking splendid too!

Bruce Timm is extremely well know. Well, when you draw the entire Batman Animated Series, it's hard to go by without being noticed. :P I haven't looking through his book too much, so I'm hoping your colored pieces are based off of your own imagination?
Otherwise, I suggest doing some life drawing off from photos or mix in some Bridgman or Loomis. It'll help you to understand why Timm makes the stylized choices he does. Why does he make ladies hips so tiny? Why does he use certain lightweight? Which features does he play up and which features does he play down? Just little questions to ask yourself and really understand what he may have been thinking, instead of just copying what you see.
I really don't like posemaniacs! I tried using it for a while and it's cool to see the muscle groups, but the poses are too off for me! I use the gesture drawing tool instead ( http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php ) and even though I can't shift the pose around to see if from all angles, it helps me to think about how I'm going to make the form look 3-D instead of 2-D.

Wow, long comment for you! ;_; I hope you don't mind! If you have AIM/MSN or skype, we can always talk. I like making friends and you're always so kind!

[Amaakir]

@Voodoo-Mama: Bruce Timm is actually quite well known, I'm surprised you don't know of him! He worked on the Batman Animated series and is considered a Master by many. Yea, his style is extremely stylized, I actually tried to make the diminish the exaggerations you're actually pointing out hahaha Thnxs for the feedback! I really need to get into finishing that enviro, alas, I keep procrastinating

@Stace: Your motivation really does fuel me, as does everyones comments I'm a bit ashamed to confess that I am copying what I'm seeing from the book, however I am adding a bit of my own choices then and there. The first study was not colored on the book, for example. And I diminished some exaggerations on the second one and added some more lights to it as well, however I am copying with a critical eye, trying to understand his decisions and why he made them, and overall it's just been a blast
I will, however, work on my own illustration, from zero, using Bruce Timm's great style. More on that soon enough

I'll upload some sketches soon, I'm having a lot of fun with a Nautilus Fan Art and I'll work on that enviro also, but thnxs for reading!

[Mogzirra]

Thanks for visiting my sketchbook, Amaakir. Yours is full of such a wonderful range! I'm really enjoying the Bruce Timm/Animated Batman style you're using near the end. I heard about his book coming out but I haven't tracked one down yet. It's a very nice rendition. That style is so simplistic yet so amazing. I love it.

[MrBrown]

NICE!!! like the mood you captured in this one bro

[Amaakir]

@Mogzirra: Thank YOU for visiting my sketchbook and thank you for your kind words. That book is actually hard to get hands on, I ordered it from Amazon and had to wait for almost 3 months till they could get me one :P but it is worth every penny, best art book I've had in years!

@MrBrown: Thnxs, man, the original artwork is from Bruce Timm, I only did a copy to understand his train of thought and why he made certain decisions concerning his artwork, I did add a bit of my own touch tho :P And I'll soon do a pinup from scratch with my own concept! So stay stuned!

So, I got home yesterday at about midnight and decided it was a good tome to do that Nautilus fan art I've been wanting to do for a while now...so, at 5:45 am this morning, I finished it
Here's a step by step on how I did my tribute to this League of Legends champion, maybe someone will find it amusing or of any help

Scanned the sketch from my moleskine, this sketch would give me a general idea of what I'm looking for with my fan art. After reading Nautilus' lore (Which is awesome btw) I decide to make the "birth" of Nautilus, the moment he awakes as the abyssal depths monster he's become


Studying Bruce Timm's color logic (and just smart painting overall I guess haha) I decided to start with a quick color on the background. This establishes a lot of things head on from the start.


Quick color blocking, really dark and unsaturated colors right now, everything will get a lot more fun once I get to the lights. Nautilus has a lot of light coming from his body, so the initial colors need to be pretty dark


Bring on the lights! Since the background coloring, I decided I want 2 main lights in the image, a cool light coming from below, and a warm one on top. I start adding light and begin working on fleshing out the character.


Warm lights are on still a lot of way to go, but I'm liking it so far, had some rough moments at first not liking it, but now I'm really growing on it :P


Nautilus is pulled by this black-oil looking slug thing from the depths, so I thought adding the moment this "thing" finally set Nautilus free in his new form would give a more dramatic effect on the illustration. Also added some details on the armor.


Nautilus rips off the anchor from the boat he was on, the crew fled while Nautilus is being pulled by the "thing" and now he carries the Anchor as the only thing left he remembers from those who abandoned him. So, the anchor could not be missing :P


Minor details here and there, bubbles and some lighting corrections


Still a few corrections, I add a Levels layer on top as a cherry would sit on top of a sundae, and, voila! We have finished our Nautilus fan art!

I hope someone enjoys this as much as I did, those were some 6 hours very well invested Thnxs for reading guys!

[Kherns]

Still love the way you used colors. I had pushed the detailling a litle bit further, and used a hard light layer to enforce blue effects. Just my two cents. Keep it up !

[Jeromo]

A good friend said to me "take a leap outside your comfort zone"... so, here I am!!. And I'm enjoying a lot with your characters (I´m afraid I prefer the girls one ) and the use of colour.

Dude, I'm really learning a lot with your work!

[mjasnowski]

Loving the updates, and thanks for the process piece, keep pushing it!

[Amaakir]

@Kherns: That's actually an awesome idea, I appreciate your constant crits, they really help me strengthen the weak spots on my work. I'll definitely take them into account and do a quick update and do a final take v.2 Thnxs a lot!

@Jeromo: Thank you very much for your kind words, my friend, and knowing that my rambling is helping someone out really makes it all worthwhile, thanks for taking your time to visit and comment, mis mejores deseos, amigo, a darle!

@mjasnowski: Thanks, man! I'm glad the process is to your liking! It's not a complete tutorial, but it does point out most of my decisions and how my train of thought goes into solving problems, I hope it's of some use

I'll update my final take on Nautilus sometime today, I just can't get out of my head those suggestions Kherns gave me, I think it would make the character pop out a lot more! Also, my next sketch on a pin up from scratch using Bruce Timm's style

[Zentrope]

Reminded me of ORKO (Masters of the Universe) in a mechanical suit
Thumbs up for sharing the work process bro..
Stay Motivated and keep working

[richartworks]

Hey Amaakir I like where this image is going but I hope you don't mind that I did a quick paintover. I felt like it was too dark (I know its underwater but it didn't feel like it was underwater).



I added a blue filled layer on lighten to bring some colour into the black and to haze the image overall so it feels like there's water in the space. Added some more bubbles, some foreground bubbles on blur to show movement/depth. I brought in a blue/aqua hue shift coming from below to give it an eerie feeling and just for more interest. Skylights penetrating the water, playing with ideas that there's another world above and some simple wave brush effects. I also added a slight haze/lighter value shift behind the character to make him pop a bit. Mostly I played with the bounce light, by increasing the area it effects. At the end I threw over the "Underwater" xD photo filter to tie it together.

Hope this helps mate!

[Amaakir]

Thnxs everyone for your comments and suggestions, that paintover especially is an awesome suggestion that I need to include. I guess I got overexcited and just rushed it to a finish without asking for crits first :P Thank you very much for the support, I'll upload the new and improved fan art of Nautilus very soon

[Amaakir]

Here's my final take at my Nautilus Fan Art
A big thnxs to Kherns and rich4rt for their great feedback and everyone who keeps rooting for me!

[malo]

Hey buddy
Sorry for being quiet - lots of thing to do here.
Like the nautilus take a lot and good progress on it.
May I'm too late - but just some suggestions (or humble "ones").
I guess it would be nice to have some bubbles on the foreground as well. not blurred - mostly sharp. This will add a bit of depth to it and gives a more underwater feeling.
but I guess that an image shows more than hundred words…
I did a quick paint over - just a pretty rough and quick one.
Hope you don't mind!!!
And if you like - I could share the PSD file. So you'll see what I have changed and so on. Just let me know and I'll send you a link.
Again - hope thats OK for you.
Keep it up and take care