[Art] Flay Learns to Paint and Draw

[Flay]

Hey everyone! I'm also learning to make games, but as an artist, not a coder. This thread will (hopefully) be a record of my progress. I don't actually have any work in the industry yet, but hopefully I can get there!

 

Enjoy!

 

[root]

That's a fine painting!  Are you following any particular training or practice regimen, or looking for any specific kind of feedback?

[Flay]

Thanks!

 

Any constructive criticism would be appreciated. At the moment I'm teaching myself. I'm trying to narrow my study into anatomy, composition and basic lighting at the moment, with the aim of producing at least one environment piece before the end of the month. My overall goal is to produce enough portfolio pieces to start landing some freelance work as a concept artist.

[BigJKO]

This is great! Only criticism of this first piece is the lighting on the bag looks directionless on the left side of the controller. Under the controller it feels correct, but on the left side you don't really get a feel for the direction of the light.. I don't know if that makes sense. The wrinkles look nice, but they're maybe too defined for the soft overhead light you're going for.

[Flay]

Totally agree. I didn't spend as much time on the fabric as I did with the controller, in reality the gradients were a lot softer

[Flay]

It's been a while since I've updated, so here's a WIP noodle bar concept. Crits are always appreciated!

 

 

[Blambo]

Those are super good! Literally only thing technical I can say is in the last one the perspective on the top lantern is slightly wrong if you look at the underside, but it's 100% just the angle of the back line. I especially like the one that's hanging off the cliff.

[Flay]

Thanks! I'll try to fix that up in the next iteration.

 

I liked the cliff design too, but it didn't really communicate 'noodle bar', which was the brief. I could always bring it back as a separate design.

[Blambo]

The cliff one reads more as like a resort or spa, or some kind of harbor mansion. Are you working off of reference or just mental library? Either way it's really cool to see different variations while keeping a sort of physical consistency and accountability.

[Flay]

The cliff one reads more as like a resort or spa, or some kind of harbor mansion. Are you working off of reference or just mental library? Either way it's really cool to see different variations while keeping a sort of physical consistency and accountability.

 

A little from column A, a little from column B. I started by doing a bunch of sketches straight from reference, then I went into thumbnailing drawing on the things I'd learned, and occasionally referencing photos.

 

 

Here's a study of a Scottish footsoldier, exaggerated so I could practice stylising and inking

 

[itsamoose]

These look fantastic, how long have you been working at this?  I can't wait to see what you can accomplish once you start integrating motion.  Keep up the great work!

[root]

Haha what is this 'learns' nonsense, you've clearly been at it for a while.

[Flay]

Thanks! But I still have a long way to go to compete with 90% of stuff on ArtStation or the like.

 

I've been drawing since high school, and I studied graphic design at university, but it was for fun. It was only last year that I decided that I actually wanted to do concept art as a career, and started studying more intensively.

 

For reference this is about where my drawing ability was at the beginning of 2015

 

[CEJ]

Thanks! But I still have a long way to go to compete with 90% of stuff on ArtStation or the like.

 

You don't have to compete with 90% of the stuff at ArtStation to land a job/internship/junior position.

This kind of thinking is very common but it can become very unhealthy and destructive.

 

I only landed my first (short term) job in the games industry myself earlier this year as a technical artist.

I have also seen plenty people get jobs in the industry (and I'm happy to know a few of them).

 

Anyway I just wanted to have that said and maybe you are well aware, if so - excuse me & carry on! I think you are doing great, I have personally stopped going to communities like ArtStation.

Polycount was my favorite place but then I kind of burned out on the whole art forum thing. I love art but The Idle Forums are so much more relaxing for my soul

[Flay]

True, I might be able to get a job in the industry if I looked hard, but that top 10% of artists is where I really want to be. I'm afraid that if I took any old job churning out mobile games then I wouldn't have space to improve as an artist. Unfortunately Australia has a very small games industry, so my options are very limited, and I can't risk moving overseas without guaranteed employment.That said if I could find a studio with artists who are better than I am, and that pushes me to improve, then that would be a dream come true.

 

But thanks! For now I have a job in graphic design. Once I actually start getting freelance concept/illustration work then I'll use that to springboard into the industry.

[Flay]

Fiiinally done with this

 

[Flay]

[root]

Thanks! But I still have a long way to go to compete with 90% of stuff on ArtStation or the like.

 

I've been drawing since high school, and I studied graphic design at university, but it was for fun. It was only last year that I decided that I actually wanted to do concept art as a career, and started studying more intensively.

 

For reference this is about where my drawing ability was at the beginning of 2015

 

 

That's a lot of progress in a very short amount of time! What does your study regimen consist of, if you don't mind sharing?

 

 

Also,

 

I have personally stopped going to communities like ArtStation.

Polycount was my favorite place but then I kind of burned out on the whole art forum thing. I love art but The Idle Forums are so much more relaxing for my soul 

 

I lurk polycount daily but I almost never post on account of I always feel like clownshoes compared to the average polycounter.  I know it's ridiculous and that targeted feedback from qualified people is very valuable but there's still this persistent welsh troll voice in my head telling me I have to bring my own work up to an acceptable minimum standard before I go tracking mud all over Polycount's nice carpet. D:

[Flay]

On 29/08/2016 at 2:53 AM, root said:

That's a lot of progress in a very short amount of time! What does your study regimen consist of, if you don't mind sharing?

 

I'm back! Sorry for the hiatus but some stuff came up, including an injured wrist and a broken tablet that left me unable to draw for a little while.

 

Last year I was studying art full-time, which taught me a lot very quickly. There were four subjects: perspective, colour and light, anatomy and narrative. The first three are fairly self-explanatory and the fourth was kind of any topic that didn't fit into the others, like thumbnailing or storyboarding.

 

The perspective syllabus was basically the same as Scott Robertson's perspective book. In addition we'd have regular tasks were we were given a rough 3D base and asked to design a building on top of it given a certain prompt. Colour and light also drew a lot from Scott Robertson's rendering book. We also had to a bunch of studies from life and from photographs, starting with marker and working into gouache. For anatomy we actually sculpted a figure out of clay, building all of the muscles individually, as well as doing a lot of anatomy studies and figures from imagination. Narrative is a bit harder to describe but the first semester was basically the same as the dynamic sketching course on CGMA. Studying all of that helps, but for me the biggest thing was being surrounded by equally passionate artists, who were all very competitive.

 

Nowadays my study routine isn't very organised, which is something that I'm trying to improve. Recently I've gotten into the habit of starting off the day doing some gesture drawing and a 30 minute drawing from imagination. From that I'll isolate a particular weakness and then do a couple of painting studies and some anatomy studies to try and improve on whatever I'm missing, then I'll attempt the imagined painting again. After that I'll start working on some personal work, trying to build up my portfolio.

 

Anyway, here's some stuff from today!

 

 

 

 

[osmosisch]

That's some exquisite moistness

[hedgefield]

On 10/24/2016 at 1:43 PM, osmosisch said:

That's some exquisite moistness

 

Was about to say the same! You're making me jealous with those colors.

[Flay]

Heh, thanks guys.

 

I've gotten into the habit of doing a 30 minute speedpaint every day. Here are some of the better results:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vulpes Absurda]

Woof a terminal case of Doge is ruff.

[Flay]

Doctor Corgi is the pride of the hospital

 

Speaking of dogs I painted a greyhound as a Valentines day gift

 

 

[Travis]

Whoa, I missed the speed painting update a while back. I was going to tell you which one I liked the most, but couldn't decide. They are all really good in their own way. That greyhound is also fantastic!