Assignment 4

Week 4: April 23rd 10:00am – 1:00pm (PST)
Instructor: Richard Anderson
Lecture/Demonstration: Illustration & Design. Richard will demonstrate his process of combining these two disciplines to create
more dynamic Illustrations.
Assignment: Create 5 book cover compositions that incorporate strong graphic design elements.

I had a particularily hard time grasping the methods we were shown in Richard's tutorial, My mind fought the use of previously created content and photos. As you will see though, the difference in quality is astounding between what my first few attempts and the final image I created are. There are so many photos of so many different places and things in the last piece it boggles my mind to see where I ended up. The colours and blending between all those photos is what lends a hand to creating that imaginative spark that latches on to a specific segment of that image. then the painting begins, taking colours, embellishing shapes and creating an image that had absolutely NOTHING to do with its individual pieces that made it come to life.

Assignment 3

Week 3: April 16th 10:00am – 1:00pm (PST)
Instructor: Thomas Scholes
Lecture/Demonstration: Creation & Ideation. Thomas will discuss the unique benefits of digital art that make creating images
easier and more efficient than ever. His demonstration will showcase advanced Photoshop techniques for image creation.
Assignment: Start at least 5 digital pieces using some of Thomas’s methods. Try and keep them spontaneous and unique from
one another. Spend no longer than 15 minutes on each piece, and make sure to start cataloging these in a W.I.P. folder that
you can revisit later.

I recieved an interesting paintover from one of the teachers on this last image, I quite like where he was going with it and was very happy to see he picked up on some of the things I wanted to spend time developing. Displayed below.

Assignment 2: Part 1

Assignment 2 Overview

Here is the outline to the week 2 proceedings.


Week 2: April 9th 10:00am – 1:00pm (PST)
Instructor: Matthew Barrett
Lecture/Demonstration: Matthew will discuss exploratory drawing and demonstrate his process of bringing building and vehicle
sketches to fully realized concepts.
Assignment: Create 10 building or vehicle sketches using some of Matthew’s design and rendering tips. Pick your favorite
sketch and finalize it with a focus on defining the different materials.

Matt gave us some great tips on the fundamentals of creating structures and vehicles. Unfortunately it took me most of the week to get things together in finding the right brushes and inspiration before I really felt things click. It's a bit of a recurring theme but I have confidence I'll start shaving down the time it takes to get to a sweeter spot artistically.

Assignment1: Silhouettes (pt6)

I fiind I'm having difficulty rendering materials with my paint brush, metal in particular is proving quite difficult. I keep seeing a finished product in my mind but cannot seem to build it up properly. Any suggestions on how to address this problem?

Assignment1: Silhouettes (pt5)

I spent some more time refining a more fluid and interesting shape for the front of the tail, used some more armor bits to keep some continuity with the body. Played around with some colour tinting for certain parts and I'm trying out some simple textures to inspire better detail on the tail such as the scales underneath. Added in more detail on some of the armor bits. 

This is a lot of unknown ground i'm covering here so if anyone sees any big mistakes I'm making here please feel free to call them out. I want to squash bad habits early and without mercy.

Assignment1: Silhouettes (pt4)

Picking my way through adding tones to my silhouette, again I'm finding that the right brush makes a big difference. slowly i'm finding my way around the brush presets window and getting closer to creating effects I desire. I don't feel Im anywhere near adding texture and colour to this image yet. I'm still getting ideas about how to add to the form to create interesting shapes with armor and other detail. I'll be back later with another post.

Assignment1: Silhouettes (pt3)

Feeling so much better about my progress. At first I found it very chaotic to try to get my strokes and thoughts to meld into one. I'm finding that the two sort of help each other out, have an idea and a direction, put a few strokes down, make a few mistakes and let the drawing form a part of itself. I have to learn to not fight the art if it isnt going in a direction that I want it to. Even though it might not be what I had in my mind it doesn't mean it wont be a nice piece or something I can't learn from.

Assignment1: Silhouettes (pt2)

With a few tweaks to my brush settings I'm finally starting to get some results I feel i can work with. It's amazing how different my brain seems to interperet shapes when working with a completely opaque brush. Here are some recent silhouettes. Looking forward to taking some to the next level on friday.

Assignment 1: Silhouettes

Our first assignment in the course we were asked to create 20 silhouettes of characters and/or creatures. I will attach my forum posts as I placed them on the Futurepoly forum.

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I grew fairly upset with the quality of the first half of my silhouettes in this assignment after stumbling across a brush that seemed to make all the difference to me. If I have time after work over the next two days I'm going to rework each and every one of my previous silhouettes. I'm certain there is a great deal more I can pull from each pose and Idea. It's been quite an eye opener looking at the other WIP threads here. You are all quite inspiring.

The beginning of an adventure in digital painting

I signed up for a course from FuturePoly. A group of concept artists from Arenanet populate the instructors and teach a variety of digital media courses. This course that I enrolled in is focused on digital painting techniques and practices. 

Website Link: http://www.futurepoly.com

Course Link: http://www.futurepoly.com/online.aspx

The course follows an eight week schedual, each week on a Saturday we are provided a 3 hour class and given an assignment for the following 7 days.

This blog will chronicle each of my assignments and show the process I have taken to complete each Image.