WIP etc

When I signed up for art school, I didn't sign up for the 30 + hours of homework per week in addition to classtime. After the day's finished, I have little energy in me to draw anything for myself or my own enjoyment.

But there's these pending colorings I started a while ago, and I'm posting them here in the hopes that doing so might motivate me to finish them, because I'd really like to see them finished.



The first is this inked drawing I found, done by Frank Frszetta. I thought that was a pretty cool deal, so I was attempting to paint it in a little different style - something which might fit the drawing. There's some neat textures in there that don't show on the low-resolution web version. I was thinking of having this ray of sunlight come streaming down at a 60 degree angle or so, falling on the witch-king's shoulders and casting the rest of him and parts of Eowyn in shadow. It could be a cool set up, I think, but so much more time.



The second is just this thing from the New media coloring book. I started on the background, which took about two or three hours so far, and I'm kind of uninspired/don't know how to light the pirate in front. I'll have to work on this.



And lastly is this poor sketch I just made. I spent about 40 min on the girl, and 5 to 10 min on the scenery. I don't know why I drew them on the same canvas either. I don't usually like the color green, but I liked the atmosphere of this one. Sort of like an apple green. Leastwise, the canvas color was when I started out. Also, if it helps, the background and the face are in no way related. I just happened to put them on the same canvas.

I've also got this picture of Candy's I'm coloring, but I'm stuck on the scythe. He probably wouldn't want me to put it up until I'm finished in any case.

mad coloring skills man, mad coloring skills.

something about the last picture doesn't seem right.

probably how the forest ends abruptly over there but then it empty on the other side....

seems to missing "balance"

and i still can't do backgrounds despite all the tutorials that i have seen.....

Awesome, I wish you had more time to finish them so I could see them in all of their glory.

You don't like green? I use green and blue too much.

I wish I did too, but it's kind of like butter being scraped across dry toast. They say design students spend as much time on their studies as medical students. Whatever that means, judging by some of the doctors I've seen.

I don't hate green, but I just find it's not a color I use often, so I assume I don't like it. I'm into warm colors.

I'm not quite sure what you're talking about, deathlegionaire, but if it's where the forest meets the girl, it's because they're two different drawings.

And did you grow up in a city? I'm from a farm, so painting scenery is like second-nature to me.

Thanks for the encouragement. Now to see to my rice. Not my favorite food, but hey, one billion+ people can't be wrong!

Cool stuff ogre. On that last picture, I think it might help the composition if that hill were sloped to the other side, which would draw the eye back into the picture rather than off the side of the page. The neck on the girl seems unnaturally thick. You could probably fix that by just drawing the hair on more of a vertical angle. I also assume that the eyes are supposed to be different colors? I also like the shape of her face, its reminiscent of Mona Lisa.

I really like the background on the pirate. like he's a sky pirate or something. i have a huge soft spot for air and airplanes or anything that flies, so the clouds really appeal to me. I'm not much of a painter, and it's someone elses lineart, and that someone else is way better than me right now, so I won't really crit it.

Now the first one is pretty cool. the lineart on the witchking has a lot of blacked in areas so i'm not sure how you're going to paint in detail on that. The fire in the background doesn't really look like flames. It's too straight for one thing, and i'd expect fire to be all wavering and flickering. Might want to take that into consideration. On a side note, I thought the Eowyn in the movie wasn't all that hot... arwen though, fuckin hot. Who played her? I forgot.

anyways, great stuff on all three. If i see anything else I'll let you know. I'd also like to see more of your own work, like sketches or something.

EDIT wait up a sec. i have a suggestion for the pirate. I'd really like to see most of the pirate in a shadow of sorts, not a fully dark shadow but just a shadow. Then have strong sunset color highlights on the edges. I think it'd give the picture a really nice mood.

wow its really good

Hey, thanks for the criticism. I appreciate it. Not really much to say about the last one because I'll not change it because it was half-assed at best. The one half of her is supposed to be in warm light, whilst the other in cool, hence her differing eye colors. Probably too pronounced a difference, though. And in retrospect, I probably should have just made two seperate pictures :p

Soft spot, is it? Airships and the like really appeal to me as well, so I guess that's why I put him in the clouds. Have you ever seen Last Exile? It's an anime series (albeit one of the better ones) You might be able to catch the streaming video if you have winamp. Open the Media Library and go to Internet TV. I don't know if it categorizes the servers by your location, so it might not be on there. Anyways, my thought was to have him lit in the front by a scarlet sort of light. But some rim lighting might be more effective, come to think of it. I'll have to work on it.

And that frazetta one, the background was done in an attempt to recreate his painting style. So the stylized fire for one, the birds flying in the corner, and those color combinations. Who uses teal and brown like that, anyways? For the details on him, I'd have to paint over the ink lines. I'll have to see how it works out, That's probably why I stopped coloring it. Arwen was played by Liv Tyler in those movies. Has anybody ever heard of her before seeing the LOTR trilogy?

And yeah, I'd like to put some traditional stuff up too. My classwork is all about 2 by 3 feet, so I can't scan it in. I plan to start a sketch book, so maybe we can see some of those pages up here sometimes. I always was stronger in my coloring and rendering capabilities than drawing.



Anyways, here's a 30 min effort (also from the New Media Coloring Book). I like the light going through the cheek.

Oh ok. I see what you're saying about the portrait one. I've actually never heard of frazetta, but I think i've seen his art around. Got links?

This new one is cool. i've always liked lighting that comes from behind the subject rather than full on. I also like the mouth area, looks like it's a passage of some sort (which technically it is but you get what i'm saying). THe light coming from the nostril is a bit iffy for me though. Sure it's connected to the throat but the nasal passage does curve. Maybe if the light were dimmer, like it's reflected off the wall of the nasal passage. hm... mucus.

Lighting that casts shadows are always real fun to draw. I'm gonna do portraits and figures for my AP art concentration, and i want to focus on extreme lighting situations.

Awe, come on. He's kind of like the pioneer of modern-day fantasy art. What Tolkien did for the literary world, he did for the art world. You must have seen his stuff, though. Here's a link, but probably not the best one. Die-Einherjar

I agree with you on the nostril, and I ammended it. Dramatic lighting is most definitely a fun thing to render out. Classical lighting is an invaluable tool to the artist.

No way... his personal web site is suspended? wtf? anyway I do recognize quite a few of his pieces. i guess i never really stopped to look who the artist was.

hey man... im really likin your colorings/paintings. i really want to see the finished product of your first pic. looks uber cool. and the green one reminds me of "the ring" somehow.

gosh man.. 30+ hrs for an art school... im still a bit reluctant to go into anything art related after high school. i'd really like to, but i guess i just a bit confused about it. we have an art-speaker-person coming to my art class today... hopefully he/she will clear up some things for me.

Oh my gawd...


O.o yea i was kinda waiting lol... I promise next week... bah! I'll wait

Pirate looks great cant wait to see! So does the fight... the goblin is jst pure greatness... glows are real fun to paint.

Awesome work Ogre.

I too would like to see that LOTR Piece finished... it's kinda funny... even before reading the description I thought it was the Witch King and Eowyn. I think that the light you are planning will come off quite well... but painting over someone's inking can be so... eugh... it's such a pain to do...

On The Pirate Piece... I'm pretty sure that I'd go with what Beam suggested... some really nice red's to orange to a nice dark purplish shadow would be really cool.

And the last piece is great... but I think I would agree with you on the whole "green" thing.

icbm1987

good to see more ogre work.

the third pic yeah i agree something is fishy about the comp ,everything is like weighing all to the right. and her eyes, the inner corner of her eyes look out of balance. right eye higher then her left.

really looking forward to the frazzetta pic, hes like fav artist ( actully hes alot plps fav artist) . hes like my idol joygasm! frazzetta is the man! I can talk about frazzetta for hours =)

I think most of the power of his imgs come from his drawings, his composition, form, anatomy, gesture is like top notch.

Another thing I like about his stuff he combines abstract with reality( something i want to do some day). Like his characters are really cartoony like hogarth meets diseny but have like a realistic quality to them.

i tried to attempt some frazzetta copies, it seems like he uses layers of paint.
And paints fast and broadly with alot of subtle things.

heh i dont know what im talking about all I know is I really like frazzetta stuff =).


coloring other plps line art is cool and all ,but I would like to see something more creative from you . Your own concepts and design stuff like that. The whole time i known you, I think ive only seen like two creative stuff 0_0.

I remeber you told me some thing like frazzetta said there is the technition and then there is the artist.
your technical skills already top notch lets see those skills put to good use
you like scenerys, you can expirement with scfi buildings or castle designs. Try expirmenting with diff moods like high key, just go crazy. I belive any concept can be worked out with research and alot of plan sketching.

You have your whole life to perfect your craft and style, expirment away dood.

haha this seems like deja vu, i remeber nagging to you about doing something creative back at infocepter - . -.

@Beam: Yeah, what's up with that? You'd think someone as prominent as him wouldn't have trouble paying for his website hosting.

@FUNG: I'm interested to hear what the speaker had to say for you. If you're interested in art school, I'll just say that as a career move, you probably won't get rich if you decide to be an artist. You can live comfortably, sure, and I'm all for that. I've never had a lot of money in my life, and I don't resent the fact at all. It can be a very confusing time, when you have to choose what you want to spend the rest of your life doing. I'm still surprised I chose art school, but I think I'm happy with my choice. I was the valedictorian, and if I went into chemical engineering or nuclear physics, I'd probably have my education paid for and then some via scholarships. But I don't really want to be just another person with a briefcase, and I thought it would be really cool if I could make a living off of what I like to do, so here I am.

Different schools treat post-secondary art education differently. In my school, the Fine Arts Department is more for self-exploration and the like. The Visual Communiation and Design Department is geared towards getting us a career in the art world, be it in graphic design, illustration, advertising, etc. So far, I'm taking one Design Class, two Fine Arts Classes, one Humanities class (think philosophy), and one Art History Class. I enjoy the Fine Arts classes; they are very fun to be in and my teachers are great. There is such a relaxed, casual atmosphere, and I'm having fun with it. But frankly, I'd probably be flipping burgers if I graduated with a BFA unless I was an exceptionally skilled painter or drawer.

The Design Class is much less personable and more professional. It almost has a cold atmosphere. We're driven very hard; We have to do an in-class assignment due at the end of class and are assigned a homework assignment which accounts for about 15 hours of that weekly homework. It's very hard and demanding. But I can say that I'm probably learning the most applicable skills in that class. Besides, what I'm in now seems geared more towards graphic design and I'm sure I'll have much for fun in the later years when we can specialize in Illustration.

Yeah, that wasn't tangential.

@Candy: I'm out of time this week, but probably by next week I'll have it done. But I don't expect you to believe me, so that means I don't really have to have it finished by then ;)

@icbm: Yeah, It will be a challenge to paint over his lines. I'll see how it goes. And yeah, I was thinking of that red lighting on the pirate. If I can get it right, it can even go through his hair and everything and make it glow.

And down with green! Well, nothing against green personally. I mean, it's a silly thing to be prejudiced againt a particular color, but I do suppose I am subconciously predisposed towards those warm colors.

@Kimchi: They could have an entire class dedicated to the study of Frazetta. A person can learn so many things from looking at his works. Supposing of course one knows what he's looking for. And indeed, there are so many subtleties in his paintings that you don't know if they were casual or intentional.

And hey man, that's the story of my life. I had this awesome creative peak at about age . . . thirteen or so. Then it went downhill from there, so to speak. I've always been better at shading than drawing, even when I didn't know how to use colors. I remember my friends giving me their pictures so that I could shade them in for them.

Creativity is an essential aspect. It's not as if I don't have any. God, I have a running book in my head, and I'd have no shortage of images to transfer to paper. I don't know why I'm reluctant to do so, though. I guess I've gotten comfortable in my security blanket that is my technical skill, and that's probably why my pictures always look like they're lacking. They are usually dead, no matter how long I spend on it or how photorealistically I render it out. Creativity brings a personable aspect to the picture; it allows the viewer to see inside the artist's head, so to speak. I think that's why I like your pieces so much. When I see them, I feel almost as if I am getting to know a part of you.

And talk about making me eat my words, hey? I'll see what I can do to fix my problem.

Thanks for the encouragement; I really appreciate it. You guys are awesome.