Almost final tonal

I'm having a real hard time photographing the graphite as I'm without a scanner. Added some linework/crisped up the tone edges as per Ed's feedback.

cannon's too small... ugh

Roughly cut, pieced together this is what the final pose is. The cannon is way too small but I don't care anymore. Gonna put more contrast in it before I cut everything out and mount it.

the spray fixative. it is killing my brain.

It's a big blue planet by the way for the transformers project. Spraying it before I cut it out and mount it to foamcore.

Tomorrow: asteroids

final pose + character thumbs

Character design project: World with no land: air colony.

Here are some thumbnails for the main male character. I'm narrowing down on the kind I want: more agile looking, traveler type with equipment to help him breathe in high atmospheric pressure situations/hovering gear.



Progress/shots from rendering the final pose (I finished all the components but haven't pieced them/glued them together yet) Took sooo long

My setup
First: marker fill in tones, 2nd: chalk pastel whites + prisma whites, 3rd: black prisma

Figure drawing + env tonal pass

perspective study of bar + tone studies

The ceiling seems to sink/warp a lot toward the right. The photograph itself is a little warped (see top border... it should be straight), but I probably messed up and made the horizontal beams too angled. When I draw the final line work without a ruler I'll adjust it, and the lighting should make it less noticeable too.

Just did some tone studies. I was wondering, with the black/white shape studies, is there a rule of thumb? I don't really know how to phrase the question, but I'm having trouble (I think I am) using tone or black/white to give focus to something (the guy coming in) or imply a certain mood (in this case, this guy is coming in and gets these unwelcoming glances).

Another graphite one. Bigger, 8.5x14"

Env dump

After I started using ballpoint like Ed, my line efficiency took a plummet. I'm still struggling with over detailing areas I shouldn't (especially in small thumbnails).




Thumbs during class.




One concept of a garage in the future where the technology is so advanced, entire teams need to be put onto fixing/maintaining one.

2nd concept that I think I'm going with: Japanese styled bar/club/restaurant in Meiji/Tokugawa eras. Trying not to get caught up in the limitations of authentic architecture.

Edit: Did a value study... I'm not getting the feel I want, I don't know if it's because the underlying line work is in ballpoint or what.

Edit again: Some digital modifications

Changes: contrast, moved the people closer in toward the middle, extended canvas on the right to give the guy some breathing room, added another lantern for visual balance, removed chef guy.

2nd pass

Changes: changed the direction the guy was looking in (maybe it was just me, but the focus was more on the guys talking to each other than the guy coming in before, correct me if i'm wrong, because it changes the whole story), added another fatter lantern for variety, cleaned up the crap in the foreground to a cleaner countertop, removed some of the dangling wires.

6/7 completed

This one took me about 6 hours... I watched Harry Potter 6, a majority of Ice Age 3, and am finishing up Super Size Me at 6 AM, which is making me sick. I'm so hungry.

5/7 comprete

I was going to do process shots, but after taking 2 I forgot. And they aren't very informative anyway.

I have about 5 hours before I need to sleep... I'll do the 6th one after some showering/eating/slacking off. Arrrrr. The project is like... 30% complete now? I need to do the final two poses, background, and cutting/mounting foamcore.

Transformers 4/7 done

3 more steps... progressively getting bigger. Final one is about.. 18x24".

What ticks me off is the bottom right ellipse. It's completely 90 degrees off. It was all good while I was rendering :[

Transformation comp:

Really crappy cropping job with a touchpad. It's 4 am and my pinky is cramped from markers. I'm out of C5, too. Didn't have refill at Swain's... I'll have to go buy it sometime ==.

Transformers rendering underwayyyy (3/7 done)

Starting the rendering for the Transformers project. 7 steps transformation. Multiple levels of foamcore. Table-sized (Mine is 120"x30"). This is the first step as the hovercraft Megatron. Kind of a messy rendering.. I haven't done Canson in so long.

Edit: second step:

Edit: another

Vehicles: Caravan cargo/ cockpit

Original rendering for reference

Linework for cockpit

Color study

Cockpit render

Cargo render:


Cockpit/cargo process:

Dump with a month left

Shoulder studies



Thumbnails/sketches from the TF2 workshop by Moby


Metro station sketches


Character design silhouettes, some arestudies from Hyung Tae Kim





Animal design project (thank god it's over.. it was awful)

Comps for Transformers project