New Fantasy Artwork*Updated 10/12/2003* 2nd Tut FINISHED

[Domino]

those pics should be hanging in an art gallery. They are worthy of everyone to see.

shawn  

[Privateer Puddin']

insult sword fighting was always better than insult arm wrestling..

[DodgeR]

wow thanks for the kind comments everyone 8)

i got ribbed by my mates for this one they though it was soppy!
the second out of the 3 pieces, this one is 'Peace'

[MrColossal]

my biggest complaints are that they're so fuzzy and washy

it may be that's what you're going for but sometimes i'd like to see the details or at least a clear edge especially in the Conflict one.

and i think you're line art is really nice and the coloured version loses something but maybe that's just me.

[DodgeR]

MrColossal: Yeh i hear what your saying but dont forget in jpeg compression you lose a lot of clarity.  In conflict i was hoping to catpure atmosphere and movement and struggle over detail, but i am never one to shy away from a challange i have made a few changes to both the latest pics.

a few more defining lines and a new crop for peace


conflict



peace

[Igor]

Great work man!
I like some kind of "speed-paint" feeling in your drawings, cool
My only minor critic would be anatomy of figures. I'm usually the last one, who'd critize pics in style: "his hands are too big/too small...", as i find the overal feeling of drawings much more important. But here i think it takes away a bit from paintings.
All your pics have great colors and atmosphere, but in a few cases, they are toned down with a little stiff characters.
I still think your strongest pic was the second one (with included pencil sketch), because of solid pose.

Other than that, it's amazing!

[Neole]

Hey Dodge, long time! Glad to see you going strong, impressive work! Do you still come on CA chat?

[DodgeR]

Igor: Thanks, yes i realised my figures can be slightly stiff:( something i am working towards)

Neole: Hey man long time no see!, yeh i pop into CA chat every once and again, i chat on a channel for another forum now called joined artists:). (check your pm's dude)

[DodgeR]

redid the alien today from before in grayscale ready to be printed.

[Sslaxx]

Woah! I'll definitely be looking forward to any game that uses this artwork.

[Rincewind]

Don't think I've said it before, so I'll say it now - Kickass artwork, I love the style and the themes. Keep up the good work!

[DodgeR]

just started on a new piece based on the romans heres my intial character sketch.

[DodgeR]

done 18/11/2003 - half man half crocodile

[jason]

Excellent stuff! I love your style.

[DodgeR]

Jason: Thanks
my latest piece i figure half naked ladies sell and if im pitching my work why not appeal to the ppl who are going to be judging it  8)

[Evil]

Looks good. A few preportion problems though. Keep um' comming.

[DodgeR]

Okay I know there was a few requests for tutorials on the colouring etc before, its an interesting topic that i figure ill share what ive learnt so far, but you gotta start at the beginning first.  

Ill start by telling you about the latest piece im working on, Based on the classic horror icon the mummy!  

The idea is a piece of artwork that is going to push me a little with a background image, a foreground character and hopefully a dynamic pose and composition.

This is where i start where i warm up my a thumbnail sketch of what is in my head about 3 x 2 " tall, i do a few of these shown below.  
They shouldnt take long and just put the idea in your head, anything in the image that is complicated ie in the background there is gonna be a crypt where the mummy has come from(adding to the story a little) ill need referace for this on the materials size look etc.



Maybe not that relevant to the great adventure games created here, unless you are planning a fancy title screen maybe?
so something maybe more familiar character creation -  I know what my character is, i look at how the character has got to where he is - hes a mummy so hes dead so his skin is dying or dead, his muscle has wasted away
he is a shadow of himself and withough the strong muscles he is gonna hold his body in a gaunt weak way, hinting maybe at his past pysiche(not sure how you spell that)
so i have the basis here to lay down a static pose to work from later.

i start with the basic manequin frame that im pretty sure was made famous by an artist called andrew loomis. (look him up in google if you want to learn more- truly awsome artist)



So once i have the basic frame size etc and proportions down now i can lay more into the detail, this is my favourite bit so far, i get to bring the character more to life added a few detail touches like his uncovered mouth, hands and some jewelery etc that has not rotted over the years.



So thats it so far, next step to come!

[Hueij]

Wow. Good idea to make a step by step tutorial.

Here are some links to the Loomis book you mentioned...

on-line: http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=12

downloadable pdf: http://www.accad.ohio-state.edu/~cbelland/public/loomis_FIGURE_draw.pdf

[DodgeR]

Hueij: Nice one, cheers for the links

okay on with the rest of the tutorial this thread is almost dying so i get on with it

so i take my zombie sketch and want to give myself an idea on the colours of the character these are what i came up with



okay with the basis for the work outa the way i check my referance on crypts and have in mind a good idea of what one looks like i go to work from my rough ideas on a final composition.  

STEP 1
went for a widescreen effect here i intended to keep to the anarmorphic ratio of 1 : 2.35 as used on DVD's and on a lot of movies but i somewhat strayed from this ratio. bleh ill put it down to artistic license.




STEP 2
so i have my pencil art that i have scanned into my comp now i create layers 3 in total.  1st is the background colour, 2nd is the figure, and the 3rd and front one is the origional image which goes down as linework and gets multiplied so i can paint under it.




STEP 3
once i am happy with my basic layers of colour i flatten the image and start to work on top i want to remove basically all the black lines - they werent clean enough in the first place to keep but i intended this anyway




STEP 4
im not going to go into massive detail on the next few images because they are fairly self explanatory and i am just working up the image layer by layer




STEP 5
Keeping in mind my origional goal and making sure i enjoy what im doing are more important at this point than anything else




STEP 6
images read from left to right over here in the uk and most western countries, in japan etc they read the opposite way, but here i try to drag the viewers eye from the left to the right onto the zombie.




STEP 7
i am the first to admit i have still got lots to learn, so non of this is gospel just my own slant on what i have learnt so far.

okay here this is pretty much the final image so i test it in a few ways(in fact ive been doing this all along about 24 times in all thats over about a 4/ 5 hour painting session.   converting the image to greyscale and checking the values where i have got tonal balance i want the strongest extremes in the character mainly.  

You are supposed when painting in colour not really to be painting in colour, but actually you should be painting  in the values(the lights and darks) so working in colour just adds an extra factor into the equation.




STEP 8
and this i also do regulary mirroring the image in fact i had 24 stages i flip the image almost after every save.

This is to view it in a new and fresh way it allows you to see mistakes you wouldnt normally because you eye gets used to the image and it begins to look right





FINAL IMAGE
and with that i call it a day maybe ill come back in a few months and think wtf was i doing but today this is what i endud up with.

[cpage]

Man DodgeR!
you are incredible! I really love your work! That mummy one was so beutiful I had to set it as my wallpaper.

BTW, My girlfriend has been looking at this thread as it progresses and she loves your work as well. Now I told her that you were probably too busy but she's making me ask anyway.   She drew a picture and she wants to know if you might consider coloring it in your wonderful style.
She understands if you dont have the time she just wants to see what you can do with it.