Cool Links_Take a look

speed painting using Alchemy
 Very Cool workflow using Alchemy
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyhznB4jG9w&feature=fvw
 Amazing concept and D Paintings
 http://durian.blender.org/category/concept-art/
 Great speed painting using Alchemy and MyPaint

Laying in the Color 1

Laying in the Color

Shading 2

Shading 1

Silhouette Thumbnail Technique

 
This technique of using a big brush and drawing small forces you to not add detail.  You can draw quickly and make 10-30 silhouettes exploring different looks and styles.  Then pick one you like best and sketch it larger so you can add detail.

Concept Update

I decided to further develop cell four from my list of silhouettes.  You can click on the image to enlarge.

Character/Creature Concept

I drew up some silhouettes for some LotR characters before I found out I could do any concept I wanted.  I imagined something could have existed on Mt. Doom, since there seemed to be nothing inhabiting that area.  I thought of a sort of lava-and-stone creature, like a golem, or perhaps like the huge turtle from the Neverending Story (you don't know it's there until you're right on top of it).

My first drawing was the top left one, more of a humanoid stone creature, with not as much lava influence.  The second, top center, I was going for more of an animated golem type of creature which would appear to be held together by some magical force.  For the top right drawing I played with the idea of a stationary creature which was in the form of a mount of ash or even just a small hill.  Bottom left:  A mostly magma creature which the silhouette ended up looking like Swamp Thing, but drawing and coloring it appropriately would definitely give it distinction.  My last drawing was nothing special and I sort of copied my second idea (top center).

 

 

Afterward, I switched my concept.   I decided to work on some concept art for a character I am creating for an MMO.  As such, I won't be giving much information on it.  Sorry.

For these figures I was basing my design off insects, starting off with beetles of some sort.  I didn't really use any reference images since these will be humanoid creatures.  I worked from top left to bottom right, just coming up with different ways the insect could possibly stand and what sorts of built-in weapons/defenses it may have at its disposal, such as a huge bladelike bone protruding from its head (row 1, col 1-2) or a shieldlike development (row 1, col 3-4)

For the figure in row 2, column 3, I sort of went off Bowser's shell (from the Mario games) and kind of added my own spin to it.  Not exactly an insect creature but I could still make that figure into one if I really wanted.

My favorite figures are 1, 3, 4, 7, 9 and 10.  I like them all for different reasons but they are each, generally, something which could possibly be made into a character without much cannibalization of parts from other figures.

 

 

I plan to continue adding figures to this page as I come up with more ideas, which is why there is a bunch of empty spots.

I'd love to hear any feedback on which figures or parts of a figure you like or dislike.

Concept :D

Just a quick concept, for mouse.

Zebrapottomus- Random Concept Week 1

This is my random concept for the prehistoric creature known as the Zebrapottomus.

He's ugly. He's hungry. He's extinct. The end.

Rouge Mage

I started out just looking at general shapes for wizards and such. I kind of wanted him to be a hybrid warrior and wizard, so I toyed around with some weapon types in my head, but a sword just seemed right. Starting concepts below. Used my favorite 3 square brush and just did random shapes until I found a "pose" I liked.

Decided on the crossed arm pose as it showed off the most of the character and displayed him how I wanted. Somewhat of a loner, and a shadowy figure.

Went for a detailed face. Grabbed an image of someone screaming and used it as well as I could. I wanted a kinda reckless look, like he was diving foward just to touch someone with his magic instead of staying out of the fray.

I didn't really have a whole lot of story written, but I had the idea that he was a wizards apprentice that never finished his training due to his masters death. Over time he picks up training with his sword and augments it with his previous training in magic. He is angry at the world for "abandoning" him, first his family (sent to be trained) and then his master's death. While he doesn't work for either side of the main story line, I think he could fit as that one shot character that just shows up every so often (Tom Bom.)

Random Concept II

(Gotta scan my first) (geeze, I hope this is right..)

So, yeah, here's my thief boy. I really don't know what I was thinking when I drew him but he's wearing a scarf and a pancho-type shaw... thing. I have a thing about drawing scarves so I made him have one. He also has pointy ears but I don't think he's an elf. Than again, he could be half-elven, which would could make him nimble and gracefully(ish).

This was drawn in Sai Painter, by the way. Anatomy is such fail here but, whatever. I might go back and re-do this... eventually.

Random Concept 1

I think we are supposed to put our random concepts up here...not sure though....hmmm. Sorry about the bad quality photo =\

Goldir

Hey there guys. This is my submission for the Lord of the Rings Character.

His name is Goldir, he is obviously... well... sauron's apprentice. He's a pretty cool guy... only NOT. He's actually pretty much pure evil. Corrupted after his family was murdered by sauron himself, he found the way of darkness through magic and fighting. He learned to control the powers of his own muscles, thusly, creating a whip made of the lengthened muscle tendons in his left arm. He has fashioned small metal hooks and barbs and attached them to the ends. Sinister to the core, no one has seen his face in years and it is believed if you were to remove his helmet, there would be nothing but the scent of despair and years of hatred.

My process for creating this creature was fairly simple.

If you refer to the image above, you can see that I start with a normal layer and two colors. One for the basic silouhette and one for the outlines and details.

Then I move on and create two more layers on top of that, one in multiply, one in screen. I then use a soft brush, with pressure sensitive opacity to create realistically blended strokes.

After the shades and hilights are all layed out, the rest of the process is simple. I create an overlay layer and proceed to block in the straight colors that I feel look best.

The second detail layer is also created in this way.

For my first legit concept image I'm pretty proud. Hope you guys like it and I can't wait to see the other submissions!

random conceopts 1

This is my concept art for the ghost lady.

Random concepts 2

What I came up with for the street urchin. Top thumbnails was me trying to decide what the height for the kid would be, as well as the hairstyle, headwear (if any), and clothes. In the end I went for a more modern design for the clothes (nothing too 1930s) and gave him a small shoulder bag which he wears under the jacket. Basically, since he's a pickpocket, I wanted to give him various places to hide his loot (though I forgot to sketch the inside of the jacket, which is supposed to have a couple more pockets).  Didn't want a complicated design, though - I wanted him to look like your average street person, so as for people to not recognize him as easily if they find their purses to be slightly lighter than it was a few seconds earlier.

I also drew a closeup of his face, since the hat is covering most of it on the full-body one. Wanted to give him a smug look, like he's saying "I'm smarter than I look, so don't underestimate me". It also gave me the chance to add some extra details on him like dirt and stuff.

-- Nieves

Random concepts 1 part 2

Did the ghost as well. Quick 15-min sketch.

Did some thumbnails at the top with different costumes I came up with for her, but ultimately decided on the last one due to it looking more like I'd imagine a ghost to look like (plus I liked the chains). Was originally going to give her shorter hair, but decided against it.

Sketch on the bottom-right is how her flesh and ghost halves are separated (bottom part's ghost). Also drew how I thought the eyes should look like, but the scan was of poor quality due to me not being used to the library's scanner so the ghost eye doesn't look as good as the original sketch (was supposed to be slightly transparent so as to show the hollow area behind it). I'll probably scan it better once I get home.

-- Nieves

Random concepts 1

We're supposed to post some pics here, right? Well, here's mine.

Done on Colors for the DS. Nothing special here, really - started with a huge black blob, then added the whites. Wish I knew how to do it in color, but that's always been my weakness.

-- Nieves