Works in Progress…
Long day in preparation for an even longer weekend.
For the last week or so I’ve ended up spreading myself across a number of different projects that I feel various amounts of loathing and love for. I was having issues working on any of them due to my inherent ability to stifle my own creativity from time to time. This was one of those weeks.
Below are a few things I’ve been working with over the last few days:
Above is part two of “The Justinian” I was working on last week. I’ve been sort of iffy about this one. I feel that I might’ve set a fairly higher bar for myself with the original piece, and I’m ultimately unsure whether or not I will be able to attain the near-greatness of the last one, but I’m striving to be THE BEST. DAMMIT. As you can see, so far, some of the lines are laid down just as placement. What I was planning on doing with this piece was testing line weight edges inside of Illustrator. Normally when I want a rounded, smoothed, or truncated end on a line or path, I usually edit it later in Photoshop, giving me smoother curves at the end of intersections. I know I can figure it out in Illustrator, it’ll just take time.
I did manage to tweak out something while being iniebriated heavily on Tuesday night. Above was a WIP of an old logo design I created for my website years ago. It’s the silhouette of my avatar, Skeez Pimp. I was originally inspired to create the piece thanks to the Batman: The Animated Series image that they show during the credit roll at the end of the show. But I wanted to try something out with my signature lightsaber and basic cel-shading lighting. It was a remake of an older piece, so I didn’t really challenge myself too much other than using my tablet crunk-style.
The last little piece that I was diddling…hehe…around with was this sexy little asian piece of spice. I can’t remember her name right now, if anybody wants to know, I can look it up later. But i wanted to try a different style with this piece once I got the lines laid down in Illustrator. I was heavily going to delve into the myriad of brushes that are inside of Illustrator in order to get a better feel for what the program is capable of doing. The main focus of the piece though was the hair. I’ve seen various works done completely in Illustrator with an insane amount of linework done for meticulous things such as hair. I wanted to give it a shot and see what I could come up with. So far…it’s pretty much come down to how I wanted to render clumps of hair, and how much detail I want to create. I’m almost scared. Almost.
The pieces that I posted above are only a handful of things I’ve been working on. I’ve got commissions to work on for various individuals as well, most of which are paid commissions, and a few that aren’t. Either way, it’s a lot of work and I’m tryin’ to stay afloat. Dr. Novachord, I didn’t forget about you.
When I look back at my artistic work habits, they’re generally pretty terrible. I usually have to be in the perfect frame of mind in order to work. My mind generally has to attain a hindu-cow-like calmness, which is either reached towards the end of the evening in the late hours of the night or when I’ve been engaging in imbibuous activities. When I’m out, about and tipsy, I’ll become flooded with inspiration yet I won’t have my materials to work with. A pencil and sketchpad is a little cumbersome to brandish when entering a club in lady-snatching threads. I’ve tried…
…or not.
Doctors, questions for you all. When you work in your respective labs, deliberating, concoctionizing, and combobulating, when does it take place? What sort of methods do you take to prepare yourselves for the tasks at hand? Can you work on them consistently or do you take breaks from time to time? Do you listen to music to drown out the distractions of the world around you?
Discuss, please, because I’ve always wanted to know.
I really like your line drawings. I tried messing with the pen tool again and I still haven’t gotten used to it. How did you do the eye lash on the girl?
Also, how did you have the nostril and jaw bone fade to a point like that?
I have to have music playing.. and the music has to match what I’m doing. As with writing… I write when I can. I can force the process if need be, but generally I work best in the morning when I first wake up. And sometimes before bed. Rarely midday.
Usually I take breaks when I’m reached my creative muscle death.
You’re not going to like this answer, but it is the best way to go I think. You need to have a sketch pad and a pen with you. It doesn’t have to be a big one, but something you can work with.
David Lynch said it best: ideas are like fish ( http://dlf.tv/2009/ideas-are-like-fish/ ). There are tons of them swimming around in your pond (mind) all the time. Some of them will be special though, and if you don’t catch it at the right time it may disappear forever. I used to write a lot on trains and buses going back and forth between Vancouver and Seattle last year. A lot of those ideas never went anywhere, but because I was prepared at least they’re written down. Writing them only made me think more and get more creative too.
I carry a notepad and a pen just about every where I go now. I have been since I finished school.
WIP #2 is awesome man. The crescent shape below really works well with it too. #3 would be impossible for me to work on, personally. I’d just be too distracted.
@ Dr. Salvatron: The main thing I need to say is that the lines I do are simply lines. There is NO stroke at all since stroke is what creates the filler or the shit that blocks your vision when you’re trying to create something as simple as a line. When you look at the main bar at the top of the screen there is an option for choosing which color for either the Stroke or Path; they aren’t labelled as such, the stroke is on the left side, and the path is on the left. (if i remember correctly.) Differentiating from the two will help a lot. The pen tool is a bit wonky. Once you get past the initial weirdness, the tool becomes golden. When using the pen tool, you can “break” the anchor at the end of the path by holding the ALT or OPTION button then clicking on the end of the point. I doubt I’m explaining it right at the moment. The eyelashes on the girl were simple points with curves thrown in with thicker lines (Where you can alter the thickness of the paths after you’ve drawn them.) What I’ll do is post up a video on what I was doing to get those angles next week. It’s not too complicated actually. I’m almost obsessed with getting the sharpest types of lineart with Illustrator.
Wow I’m impressed I’m kind of a noob to Photoshop and illustrator. The line work I was never ever to figure out but I like how you explained you can break them. I’m in progression myself of getting back into my art scene and been out of it for a while. Do to the motion of job, life, job, girlfriend, job, and friends, job and whatever else. Did I mention job. Anyhow keep up the good work Dr. REWind.