Her

Pencil sketch turned to practice painting at work, and eventually finished. I was really hoping to update the blog, but I'm quite busy nowadays, and can't show most of the stuff. Going back to Spain for holidays tomorrow, have a nice time everyone!

Please forgive the corniness of the title. Photoshop CS5 in my gorgeous Cintiq (can't live without it anymore).

Influence map

I've seen these "influence maps" becoming quite popular recently, and I also wanted to try mine; not only because it's a one-time answer to a quite usual question, but also because it forces me to a bit of introspection on what has influenced me over the years.

Of course, it's hard to fit everything into one page, and I've left hundreds behind, but there are these few that I think deserve special mention. Some might have pushed me to draw when I was a kid, others might be artists that I'm obsessed with just in the last few years... each one has its own reason to be there, but I can confidently thank (or blame) them all for my style/s.

And the list keeps growing!

The average Danish guy

Blue eyes, blonde beard (made mostly of remoulade), a fish tail and a huge tankard of Tuborg; that's a pretty accurate representation of the standard Danish individual.

The guys from the studio were teasing me some time ago with the "typical Spanish guy" being this flamenco-dancing bullfighter, so I kinda felt I had to do my approach on the Danish cliché. Since there is not really a Danish stereotype per-se, I can just offer my vision.

Behind the Iron Curtain

It's been a nice workshop weekend in Bucharest. Nice people around and enriching experience overall. I'm particularly glad of having had the chance of a bit of life drawing, which is something I miss since I lost the habit of doing it when I left Madrid.

It was just a single pose actually, but enough to lubrify the skills a bit.

Majordomo

Somehow managed to squeeze this within my schedule. I really missed painting for myself! Not that I have started it from the beginning or anything; just rescued it from some sketchbook.

Since I miserably failed to get a decent light scheme working when I initially tried to painted it, I left this project behind until the right time. Eventually, it has been a good starting point to test Sam Nielson's approach to break the light into several layers. I'm definitely looking forward to attend his Schoolism course when I'm able to afford it.

Anyway, since I already know some people who are interested in the process, I'm writing my thoughts on it.

The main advantage of this approach is that information is taken into small, easier to digest pills, thus not having to solve occlusion, direct light and color all at the same time. That leaves the brain more relaxed, at list for people like me, unable to breath and blink at the same time, and everything is easier to manage layer-wise. Also, the outcome is reasonably unpredictable, which turns out to be an advantage when you are stuck like I was.

Its main drawback is that it becomes a less "intuitive" process, moving much of the work to the left brain at the expense of being slightly blind about the overall look. Of course, it can be tweaked afterwards, but painting the color layer feels quite unnatural, and it forces you to have a working, finished drawing from the get-go rather than being able to correct stuff "on the fly". It is also a bit more time-consuming.

Anyway, it's very a very worthy process to give a shot, and to meet face to face with lighting in its most raw state. Also, I must recommend never painting in a laptop; that nasty LCD screen has left me close to blind.

Lani Pixels

Comienzo en breve como concept artist interno para el primer largometraje 3D del estudio de animación Lani Pixels, en Dinamarca. Es un movimiento un tanto arriesgado para mí, pero también muy estimulante, así que es hora de preparar las maletas y comenzar a moverse. Si pensáis pasaros a ver Legoland algún día, no dudéis en pegarme un toque, estaré en Billund ;)

--

Beginning shortly as an in-house concept artist for Lani Pixels animation studio's first 3D feature film in Denmark. It is quite a risky movement for me, but also very exciting, so I guess it's now time to pack everything and start moving! If you're considering visiting Legoland any time soon, just make me know, I'll be in Billund!

New sketchbook!

Bought a new sketchbook yesterday, and I love the earthly tone. I normally sketch over white paper, but I hate how scanning it washes all the subtle paper grain out to a flat white, losing a lot of its "charm". So, after having a look at someone else's awesome Daley Rowney "earthbound" sketchbook, I found something kinda similar (yet thinner and more expensive, though) right in Madrid.

Recycled paper with tons of texture and enough roughness to allow a comfortable sliding of white pencil (often slippery due to its waxiness). Plus the chance to do grisaille. The king of papers. This is today's train sketch.

Character faces

If you ever go by train, know that probably someone is watching you even during that moment when you safely pick your nose. He's sketching and having a blast out of your vulnerability. From an artist's point of view, that is one of the moments of greatest joy and plain fun, at least when you are "safe" yourself, protected from peers over your shoulder. When you are the predator and you aren't stalked by a conscious victim just about to switch the roles and become the hunter (and punch you in the nose, or even worse, gently ask you to show him the sketch).

Anyway, sketching on the train is something I just love to do, and I've kinda developed a pretty stimulating exercise (probably stimulating due to being my comfort zone, anyway). Since I hate it when people notice they are being drawn, I just have a 5 seconds peek at any stranger who catches my attention, and never looking at him anymore I sketch a character based on a totally invented story about that guy. Needless to say they don't resemble at all the persons they are inspired by (not even remotely close) but it is a very nice way to come with fresh ideas and let the mind loose.

All of them are pencil on sketchbook. Any resemblance to actual persons or facts is mere coincidence.

Color keys

General layout concept and color key for a game pitch. Plus early Talanzaar color key draft for openOutcast

Busy days! Will show newer stuff. Someday.

Life drawing

A bit of life drawing practice. I suck at scanning, can't avoid that paper whiteout effect and I'd swear they look much nicer on the paper, so I end up faking the grisaille effect. That's why I'm always so reluctant to uploading model sketching, but somehow having those tons of paper forgotten in a shelf also sucks.

Models from "Círculo de Bellas Artes" in Madrid, Pencil on A4 paper.

X-secutor version VII.0

Everyone in the circus is excited about the Emperor's new toy. The improvements over previous version have made it all but a success. Perhaps too much, say some gladiator trainers who are already considering about taking their boys to the Egyptian Facesmashing Superleague.

Painter 11 (mostly). JPEG compression sucks balls.

ScaleDude and the Opium Trip

Well, real title is supposed to be "EoW#133 Ancient Palace Ruins", but that sounds way more boring. As the title hints, its destiny was conceptart.org's Environment of the Week challenge.

It is mainly about composition, which was my main focus at every moment during the process, and I have learned a lot about it. My initial aim was doing some concept in the likes of platforming games, with a slightly less cartoony mood than usual (still not realistic). Took somewhere around 10 hours, since there was some back and forth with guiding the eyesight smoothly to where I wanted. If you want to have a look to a work in progress sequence, you can check it here.

Kelvin's Space Ranch

Here's some stuff I've been working in the last months for Canadian studio Incubator Games (nice people they are). A few artworks from the upcoming web-based game Kelvin's Space Ranch. I've done pretty much anything from concept art to production visual assets, and I must say I've had a blast with such a wacky project. Finally it's about to be released.

I based the visual style in a 'futu-rustic' mix of naif innocence, japanese home-oriented robotics and sci-fi B-movies with vivid secondary color palettes. This is just a small selection of the material. Can't wait to play!