EoW125: Sailing to Harbor

My first submission to the Environment of the Week challenge in conceptart.org. The quality level there is huge, but it's worth giving a shot. It was very fun and learned a lot since it's not the kind of thing I'm used to do (never painted a vista before, in fact), so I'm moderately happy. I might even participate weekly in the challenge (on in the creature challenges or so). Time will tell.

I'll take this opportunity to say that I'm helping with the character design of a game in early development called Demigod Crisis (placeholder name), a free 3D multiplayer RTS/RPG in the likes of Defense of the Ancients. The website is yet an embryo and I´ll be soon posting the first stuff (amateur project, no NDA), but anyway, you should be checking the game often in the forthcoming months!

gouache sketch

Enough digital stuff for a lapse. We're beginning with gouache technique in color class, that is something I haven't used since primary school (you can guess the quality of those) and I'm loving it, so here's one of my first gouache sketches, done in small size. One of the cartoony faces I enjoy so much doing. Over 2 hours though. I'll get the hang of it!

Magic Unleashed

This old guy was initially meant for my characters class, requesting just a scatterbrain wizard of some sort. I spent quite some time developing the character until I got the final pose to present as the final requested linework. However, I liked it enough to paint it further as it was a real character layout I would do for an animated movie or something.

Must thank the critiques received prior to finishing. The painting itself took around 5 hours. Fullscreen recommended; the white window contours darken the image.

60' sketch: Lost cave

The closed and abandoned entrance to some lost cave or something. 60 minute-ish sketch... perhaps took a bit longer. I kinda lost the sense of time, you know, like if I was in the Bermuda triangle during the painting, or if I had been abducted or something. Began it with a random/abstract brush, without a previous idea, started to develop lights and shadows and finished it from there.

As I lay aWacom in this night...

The abbot of Yestershire is beginning to use new technologies. The brothers became bored of copying pile after pile of tomes, and decided to switch to Ctrl+C. They've become very productive now, and can spend more time with the calligraphy and illustrations. They rock!

concept: Slave of Aquanus

A minion slave from the undersea realm of Aquanus. They are planning some kind of revolution against the evil Baron Neptum, anytime soon. Good luck guys!

2h, no previous idea, just built from volume masses. CS3

Gratuitous display of violence

This guy is one of those brainless alpha males always looking for an excuse to solve things using brute force. I've crossed some of these in my life, and since I'm not the kind of guy who'd fight them back, this is my chance for a vulgar display of power back on them.

Ha, last laugh is on me.

Village

Here's a sketch of a misty European village of around the 17th century. Tried something less saturated than usual. Around 90 minutes.

The compression looks awful in the reduced image, so please click on it for a larger, uncompressed view.

Lair, sweet lair

Yay! Finally got some time to paint. Vacations can be really stressful, you know?

Anyway, about the subject, after some time really intrigued about why I didn't like my artworks; always tied to that awful habit of focusing on detail before actually having a clear idea of the global result, I finally became conscious about what the hell did they mean by "color scheme"! A few days ago, just after going to bed, It came to my brain like a divine revelation and I just... understood it. Clear as water. It was there, and it was so obvious! I had been listening about it so many times without actually being aware of what it meant.

That night I couldn't sleep for hours, and now there's that amazing feeling that *I* have the control during the process rather than my pictures dictating me what I must paint. Perhaps it sounds kinda dumb if you're not into painting, but if you've been like me struggling day by day, clueless about why other people get those atmospheric environments in their works while yours just don't feel harmonic, and get frustrated trying to achieve something via detail, just know: It's not about the color tones you choose at all, but the contrasts you make between each mass and what it haves behind, using VALUE! Color tone itself is the least in importance, with a simple monochromatic palette you can do awesome stuff! Light is your tool, and you are not its slave, but its master.

Damn, I suddenly feel the need to redo all my previous work. But I better hold myself. Anyway, don't want to bore you with my lesser troubles. The work just began as a very loose sketch on paper of a spidery-tree lair or something, and didn't even scan it, just played with the color and developed it around 4 -5 hours.

Stereoscopic Goofzilla

This is a small test in stereoscopy. Basic anachromic stuff. Used an old work with quite some depth in it. I just played a bit with layers to fit the retinal disparity. Stereoscopy is the future (but this time for real), so we better be up to date!

You'll need some basic blue/red goggles, but hey, I've saved you most of the work! Just go to the papershop at the end of your street, get some cellophane, find some scissors and there you go. I can't upload that part of the job for you so don't be lazy!



Better viewed fullscreen.