Schoolism Week 5

For week 5 we learned how to approach a drawing with a more painterly approach.  I had a hard time coming up with something to draw, so I used a few random word generators and eventually got 'radioactive single minded regenerating crocodiles that throw blasts of energy'.  Andrew had shown us some techniques to create some cool effects, so it ended up working pretty well for me.  I didn't really cover off the 'radioactive single minded regenerating' part, but I did give him a lovely ball  of energy to throw.  I'm decently happy with how it turned out, and I kind of enjoy how it looks like his skin is made of pickles.

I haven't had a chance to make the changes that Andrew mentioned in his critique, but I will hopefully have time to tackle them soon.  The thing that I most need to work on is defining the form more with shadows.  Overall Andrew thought it was pretty good though! :)

Schoolism Week 4

We tackled cell shading and coloring this week.  It's a lot closer to how I would normally color things in Photoshop, but Andrew still showed us some things that I had never thought to try before.  My tablet and Photoshop were not getting along very well, so I used a sketch that I had scanned into my computer instead of drawing something directly in Photoshop.  The first image is the one that I submitted and the second one is my revised version after watching my critique.

There weren't a lot of changes to make, mostly just refining the shadows and adding some more highlights to make his tentacles look a bit more shiny.

He caught himself a nice looking spleen!

Schoolism Week 2 and 3

So after watching my critique from Andrew on my week 1 assignment I went back and re-drew the sloth giving it more volume and form and making it looks less like a scary, gangly monster.  I fixed up the arms as well to give the drawing a bit more flow.  We then had to do a pass of the shadows and highlights.  I was still getting used to the pressure sensitivity and drawing with a tablet in general so it turned out a little messy.

Then came the time to COLOR IT!  We learned about all of the blend modes for layers, which are super cool.  He also showed us how to mask off your drawing which makes not coloring outside of the lines a lot easier.

After watching Andrews week 3 critique I went back and toned down the highlights and fixed up the background.  I also brought out the features of his fuzzy little face a bit more.

"There ain't no party like a Sloth Club party."

Schoolism-Week 1

Well hey there!  I started taking an Intro to Digital Painting class through Schoolism.com a week or so ago and I though that I would post what I've done so far.  I had never really painted, let alone sketched in Photoshop before but it always been something that I wanted to learn.  The class is taught by Andrew Hou, and he has some mad digital painting skills.  He's been digital painting for a while and has worked both in comics and as a concept artist.  You can see some of his work here www.andrewhou.com.

The first lesson was how to sketch in Photoshop.  I hadn't really worked with a tablet before so it was all pretty new to me.  I decided to draw a sloth having a party.

It definitely could have turned out better, but I'm still kind of getting used to everything.  Andrew recorded a 15 minute critique where he went over my drawing and showed me ways to make it work a little better.  His drawing looked a lot better than mine did, hahaha.  

New Shot-blocking

I've started working on a new shot for my demo reel and I thought that I would share what I've done so far! I chose an audio clip from the ridiculous movie Top Secret and set it in a Mad Scientist lab/dungeon.  I've only done a couple of passes in blocking and haven't done much with the monster or set yet, but this is what I've done so far!

The first blocking pass

 I got some feedback that the monster wasn't reading very clearly lying down on the table, so for the next pass I made him a little easier to see.  I also did some more breakdowns for the scientist.

Any feedback/comments would be very much appreciated!

25th Anniversary

It was my Mom and Dad's 25th anniversary a couple of weeks ago, so I wanted to make them a special 'card'.  They went to New York for a week to celebrate so I wanted to make them a NY themed paper sculpture thingy!  I tried to incorporate as many of the things that they actually did while in New York as I could. They saw The Lion King and Once on Broadway, saw the statue of liberty, went on a horse drawn carriage ride in central park, went to a BMW store to look at motorcycle jackets for my dad, and ate a super gross looking giant hot dog. (For the record, I thought it looked gross but they really enjoyed it)  I set it in Times Square so that I could make use of all of the signs up on the buildings.  I was going to add an angry cab driver too, but I ran out of room.

Mom and Dad looking super precious, holding hands in Times Square.

The words were a real treat to cut out...

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!

Happy Sloth.