Precipice Update & Insane Creature Video

Hey everyone! Just wanted to post up a new update to keep things somewhat current. Decided to jump back into a project I started earlier this year, (with some help with the writing from the very talented Beki) and finally got down to doing some concepts. My portfolio has been filling up with illustration work, but my passion rests with design and function. So this is why I've set aside the month of May to start knocking out some concept work to help balance out the the portfolio, creating new images for The Precipice from scratch as well as re-visiting old ideas from various Mod groups that never made it to completion.

First up is the female lead for my story. I'm not going to explain the premise just yet, but know that it touches on all the dark elements I'm naturally drawn to ;) I spent some time fleshing out the line drawings in a clear and concise manor before picking out 3 designs that I felt meshed with her personality and profession. The black and white sketches were meant as a way to see how certain costumes and value patterns would work on top of the figure. Which is why the pose is very open, to show off as much as possible in the 3/4 view while her face is somewhat concealed. I'll worry about her head styles next.

From here I'll begin doing callouts of her bag and accessories as well as nailing down the face and hair before doing a final sketch. Then I'll play with a few color options before ripping out the final render. Stay tuned!

Also. this video will pretty much blow your damn mind. Be amazed.

Also just a final note, I was approached on DeviantArt the other day about the possibility of having my Rain Dance Tutorial translated into Ukrainian and eventually Russian for another artists blog. So I'll keep you posted if/when that happens. Thanks much!

Diablo 3: Portrait of a Champion

Happy May to all of you! So Blizzard was doing an art contest for the infamous "Diablo 3" title that's going to be released in about 2 weeks, and I thought I'd take a crack at it. Some really fantastic and impressive entries up there so far. Had no idea how vast the Diablo fanbase was.

Was a nice and complex adventure for me that I thought merited a little explanation (and by little I mean not at all.)

So if you're interested here's the tutorial I wrote up that walks you through my process.

Thanks much!

-D

P.S. I did finish the Zbrush experiment that I posted earlier and threw it up on my website. But I think there's some changes I'd like to make before I start promoting that piece. I need to get the whole process into a character concept sheet rather than just two separate illustrations. Will have more concept work to show by the end of the month!

Zbrush - Day 1

So a few buddies and I have been interested in sliding Zbrush into our concept workflow. I definitely pushed it to the back of my mind for a while but there's a show coming up and I had an idea to try and illustrate this workflow in one single piece. Not entirely sure how the final chart will look but I'm excited to give it a try.

I will say though, this has been an entirely frustrating day. BUT! Once I figured out the Zspheres and which brushes do what it's actually a very relaxing way to work.

This is a crop of a much larger sculpt for the show so you can probably pick out some of the topology in this shot; because it's never meant to be seen this close and any higher subdivisions would slow up my system :/

Thanks for checking. Between the few freelance jobs I'm currently working on, the contest I mentioned in my previous post, the show coming up in two weeks and the portfolio building to be ready by the end of May I'm happy to say I'm feeling busy, tired, excited and a whole buncha other things right now!

St. Patty's Day Post

Happy St. P's day everyone! Just to nerd out on this annual event: A Biologist's St. Patrick's Day Song

Alright back to work. There's been rumors flying around a certain contest. So here's a little crop/preview of my entry for now. Did up the color study last night and I'm really happy with where's it's going. This piece will be a nice stretch for me in terms of composition and active effects. More to come.

AND! I picked up a cheap(er) Molskine 3-pack to start scratching away in. Trying to loosen up and avoid getting so renderific. Also had a nice conversation with Grant Griffin and Matt Maloney about hands and hand gestures while going through Michael Hampton's figure drawing book. Mmmhhhhh....hhhaaannnddssss.

February Update: More to Come

It's been a while so I figured it's time for a new update. I've had this one posted on my website for a while now but i thought I'd share it here to set up for a huge art dump I'll have coming soon.

This concept was spawned during one of the weekly sketchgroups I do with a bunch of friends of mine. Usually we just do our own thing and work on whatever, school projects, commissions, personal sketches, etc. But this week we all decided to work off a prompt and do a re-design of classic movie monsters. I chose to do the Mummy but made an effort to design outside of the typical Egyptian setting. So I thought of other cultures around the world that mummify their dead and landed on ancient Aztec/Mayan/Incan/Central-South Americas.

This was also a little experiment for me in painting with color directly rather than glazing over a value study. It's still very mono-chromatic but I feel like I learned a bit during the process.

Thanks for checking! Should have a new video tutorial and a host of new images to show soon enough!

Female Head Studies

Some female character studies. One of the last drawings for 2011! I also have a bunch of work under NDA right now, along with some client commissions and a personal project, so once everything is cleared and wrapped up sometime in Jan/Feb I'll make sure to post a huge art dump then.

Wanted to play a bit with some female portraiture from imagination. I tend to be weaker on the female side, and I thought these quick(er) studies might help to correct some of my bad habits. I created a few different character types just to have an excuse to push and pull some of their features.

For example, the vampire chick on the far left has a more rounded face which is mirrored slightly by the shape of the hair near the top. I covered the middle character's eyes with huge sunglasses to mask her gaze and gave her a slightly punk-ish/boy haircut, meaning her jawline, lips and nose needed to sell her female form. And I tried to keep the far right study fairly symmetrical to add to that odd/creep/out of place sort of personality.

These were fun to warm up with. Will definitely be doing more of these. Thanks for checkin'

Inspiration

Can't say enough about this.

I along with most everyone I know falls in and out of motivation and inspiration. You watch those around you take longer and longer strides, or you admire your idols and feel like they make it an effortless task. BUT! I've found that persistence goes hand in hand with experience, and experience yields results.

So keep drawing, stay focused, and grow creatively, professionally and personally.

-D