Ok, this week is crazy, and the next will be worse, and so on till new year i guess aahah =)
anyway in the free time i´m taking things i´ve listed in my power point document, and trying to work on one of them at a time.
This week i´m working on creature anathomy. since and exceptional understanding of creature anathomy is a requirement i should meet, and at the moment i have 0 knowledge of that i thought it was about time to work on it.
I started from mike corriero´s mentoring thread on ca.org trying to adapt it to the 3 sketches workflow. In the first excersize he asks to draw 6 types of creatures differenciated by number of legs, but not only, most come from different classes ..(i guess...not so good with terminology yet =p)
anyway i started with copying reference pictures of each of this classes, i wasnt´concerned about rendering , but mor in understanding their structure, and how they "work", so that when i´ll go and do them from imamgination i know exactly what to draw and what not to draw...like antennae on spiders (that´s a nono =) i hope at least ahahha) i´m still a bit confused as you can see and i haven´t gone through all of the categories yet. 3 to go, hopefully i´ll finish by tomorrow =) i´ll probably try to do a more finished renderind as a 3rd sketch.
on a nother side, i wrote a pm to Trent Kaniuga today, who works as a concept artist at Blizzard, and ask him about some tips or more insightfull information about what they are looking for at blizzard and so on...
He was very kind, and told me to get involved in game developement right from the start, in indie, or flash game developement, cause experience and skills are mostly what they are looking for at large companies like blizzard, more than a stunning portfolio, even if things go along..but even if you have a strong portfolio, you still need experience...he also suggested me to try and redesign pre-existing characters and environments (etc..etc.) , trying to push the original design design but paying attention to the function they have in the game.
Also he insisted that it´s important not to get dscouraged if you don´t get the job at the first time, try again, re-applying after some time with updated portfolio and resume, and they´ll start remembering you. =)
i was inspired by his message to do more eheh, now the thing that it´s most hard for me is to find a way in this load of "to do" stuff =). But that´s why i have a plan i guess, just stick to the plan!! =p
1 comment:
Hey man! Sorry for taking so long to reply, but I will do so now ^^
I'm not sure if I will comment on your previous sketches since I missed the opportunity to post on those, but I will definitely critique your newer pieces.
Great job, first of all, on writing a professional already in the business ^^ God knows what kind of a jackass response he could have given you, so I'm glad it turned out so positive :P
I see you have been focusing on invertebrate species for this week. Great, lets start at the very end of the evolutionary chain :D I would say, for the sketches, at least put in the hairs. Almost all of the insects you sketched have many tiny fibrous hairs on their legs, the spider on its thorax and abdomen. What I recommend to you, while you sketch, is to get a vague sense of texture on the critters. They look smooth, clean, and almost polished on some pictures, but they are, in reality, extremely furry.
You drew a lot of the insects from the top- that's bad. A lot of insects have a chitin carapace on the top to protect them. This often goes over their legs, and very close to the head. Drawing those insects would make a top-view trivial, and it's hard to get a grip on the anatomy of the spider- mandibles, pediplae (Might not have spelled that right), etc, when drawing from the top. If anything I'd encourage a bottom-view except on critters with wings.
One thing I'm not sure about is the millipede in your first drawing. Are you sure it can stand erect like that? It's even cocking its head forward, that has to require massive amounts of strength to keep up without a vertebrate.
The underside of snails is actually pretty interesting if you get some good pictures. The bottom of the snail is actually not smooth, it moves in waves which allows them to cross over razorblades without getting injured. Very awesome.
Since your working on these things I encourage you with 110% of my body to study invertebrates of the sea. Mollusks, gastropods- on a side-note lampreys and jawless fish come pretty close to the overall design of millipedes- and other sea critters like sea snakes and sea spiders.
Alright, enough about those ^^ Lets go to your studies on textures and materials. I will comment a lot on the perfection in which you copied the picture in shape. Take that as you will, but when I draw something I try to be as true to the original as possible before misshaping it. I guess you don't really have to as long as the result is comparable, but that's just my thing and I feel like commenting on it :P
The fish is good, but I think you need to diffuse the light spot a bit more, and the teeth don't stick out very well. From the looks of it, that material has very defined edges bar the backside with the tail.
The tree gets thicker as it rises from the ground. At least, that's what I can tell, but you gave it a fairly samey thickness all around. Because of the annoying leaves in the background I think you didn't see that the tree doesn't really crook to the right at the top portion of the picture, but rather follow through. There is also a hump that you didn't express very much, and also too much at the top. Overall, though, you didn't get the texture of the tree very well. You quit too soon, and your values bunched up in the middle when there are clearly light and dark spots on the tree. Take your time man! It's great that you're not as lazy as I am/was, but rushing art might even be worse when you're trying to learn something from it.
The plastic bottle is done nice, but not really that hard. However, the bottle on the left is slightly slanted towards the right, but nothing major. The one problem I see is with the bottle cap. It's lighter than the bottle itself, yet you drew it just as dark as the body of the bottle.
Here is were I really have to comment on the form. This is a perspective picture that you slanted. I really don't think that's good D: I also see some sort of lazyness/strain/apathy. You rushed it a little, or? You didn't properly focus/concentrate on the light as you said you wanted to in your blog :P I'd recommend reworking it, but, hell, redoing stuff isn't that fun :P Just don't slip up the next time ^^
A shame you didn't try to add the bigger scratches of that...tube thing in your painting. The logo is too dark, and the light streak at the top too thick. I see you have a little difficulty with circles just like me :P I mean to say, the bottom circle isn't quite right.
The wallet really seems rushed. I want to refrain from posting because, I have to be honest with you, seems so sloppily done that it looks like an excuse to say you did art. You made a dark spot on the left where there is light, and the texture seems completely different than that from the original wallet. The edges are blocky, and I couldn't tell you what I was looking at if you took the original away. The diffusion of shadow on the left is stronger on the right, but the right side has a darker spot than the left.
The jacket. Hard. I think you did it quite nice, I can see the leather texture. I just wish you had refined it some more. It looks like a great start, but don't quite after a great start. At least have continued it for another half hour so you can refine it some more. The left sleeve of the jacket is too dark.
You didn't focus a lot on the unique scratch on the pole. They look a lot different from each other. I can't see the texture in this one. It's very rough, but you gave it a smooth surface with too dark values.
Alright, I'll keep it at that for now. In summary I'd say: Keep practicing it, and don't always make the light colors so grey. Light is more white, but you give it a greytone that doesn't look very good because it makes you stay in the middle values of your sketches.
I would also suggest paying more attention to what exactly makes the surface appear as it is. You pointed out your flaw correctly, and I think most of your problems can be summed up in one word: impatience :P
That being said, I do want to post some compliments because I always have a nagging fear of coming across as too harsh. The creature studies are pretty well done in terms of appearance and likeness of the creatures. Most of your objects can be identified and you managed to pin some of the textures :D
Alright, now go keep doing it, I'll post more of my stuff tomorrow ^^ Cheers, and have fun man!
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