[mjasnowski]

Loving these updates, especially the Metroid sketch!

[Failstar]

Thanks mja!

Here are some recent bustings, this was a lunch doodle, messing around with hard no opacity



These I did after work yesterday just for fun. I had some cool exploration in the thumbnails, however I think that I could push them further in the future. They still feel a little tame.

[malo]

Dude, those are awesome!
Love the thumbs, but the last character are pretty cooool!
great values, line flow and designs!!
Cheers

[Voodoo-Mama]

Cool characters! O:
I really like that lunch doodle, it's awesome!

[Failstar]

malo: thanks man, yea I've been developing these further, and the designs got pushed a bit Ill post up the progress soon.

vm: Thanks, I like that one a lot as well.

Here are some recent head studies.

Worked on these guys last night trying to practice some learnings! These are about 2-3 inches tall, and trying to keep them small at first to keep from getting too superficial with them. This allows me to avoid certain details, and just think of the overall form and shapes. I am also trying to keep the time spent on these down so that I don't get sucked into this long art process which can get draining and demoralizing. 15-25 min spent on each.



Another head study from over the weekend. Trying to pay more attention to tones, and lighting. Since I don't have my pencils and materials for traditional stuff, I tried applying the techniques I have been learning in a more digital fashion. Seemed to work out alright, but its really tempting to paint things up, and zoom in and go bonkers on things.

[mjasnowski]

Studies look awesome! Keep it up

[Cj_Marsh]

God I am in freaking love with your sketchbook its reminding me to get my ass in gear and improve, thanks for more inspiration! Please keep at it!

[Failstar]

Thanks Mike! Will do, and thanks for the encouragement!

CJ: Thanks so much, I am just happy to pass the inspiration along thanks for stopping by and letting me know!

Here goes my progress on those cowboy thumbs from earlier. It is still WIP, but I am going to try to force myself to wrap it up shortly. I tried injecting a little more shapes n junk into them. But they started out as the *'d ones on the thumbnail sheet. As I was working on these I slowly started building the stories that would help me inform my designs about each of the characters. Some of them are more fleshed out than others.


Crits and comments welcome

[Failstar]

After lunch quickie 20-25

[LongJh]

Whoooooo!

Good Lord man these are all fantastic works! Really love your characters and your pencils are just insane as well! Those digi thumbnail sketches are great, especially the recent ones - lots of strong brush control and design. You really got an awesome imagination!

Btw I totally agree with you on how mood and external factors affect your concentration. It's really easy sometimes to just lose yourself in studies sometimes and just start copying blindly - it has affected me countless times already. For me it's more of, after I finish a significant chunk of work, my brain seems to go into a "time for a break" mode and I just totally lose focus if I try to continue. It's like your mind keeps sliding off and you get distracted and bored much easier.

Taking breaks is definitely a good way to refresh yourself. Though sometimes I find it's pretty annoying if every hour or so your brain just tries to shut itself down and you gotta keep taking breaks to refresh it. I dunno lol, any ideas on this?

[malo]

another superb update!
Lovin' the characters a lot!!!!
keep pushing it - PLEASE!!!
Cheers

[Failstar]

LongJh: Yea definitely finding the breaks to be beneficial. Get up go walk around, do some laundry or something and then returning to the piece with a new energy. Haha its funny, me and a friend had a discussion how you can remember stuff when your mind is preoccupied with some other normal daily task. Like taking a shower or commuting, you can either remember some crazy detail, or generate some really interesting idea/story. Maybe that's why sometimes after doing some chores or something I feel a different energy than if I were to just play a game and then come back to it. Thanks for the comment bud!

Mal0: Thanks man! Will do, breaking these guys out into their own things now to further develop them and do some headshots

Pardon the dump, there is a variety of junk in here. Most of it is practice and exercise. Some other stuff is WIP not finished ideas, some I will return to, some I wont. I figure its just good to post some different styles of work and get some feedback. I have mainly been focusing on getting my form and lighting foundation down a bit more. It has been a weakness of mine, and only in the last year have I been able to identify it and am currently trying to relearn and practice it a bit more.

I have been using these as well as various books to help me understand it more thoroughly. Hopefully this can help some of you out there, and please if you know if any other resources or books, I would love and appreciate any recommendations!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...4UT-yUo7pC13GQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZzc3...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNkMFlmTduE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aWkd...eature=related


Onward with the dump!

Some sketches










Some Fund practice




This one was reffed from: http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d5oax2g



Some application attempts of that knowledge




Env Prac


A fun bot I was working on last night, this is how far I got with it.

[Failstar]

Just messing around more with grouping my values and form modeling...gonna have to get in some more practice.

[malo]

bunch of great updates, mate!

happy new one

[mjasnowski]

Great updates, really like the lighting you have going I think your forms are looking really good to keep it up!