Makkon: @XBGT: It's Zbrush
@CoCoNO: I debated over that and tried making it smaller, and she looked a bit like a neanderthal. I'll try to find a good balance.
@makingfailure: I dunno, beyond a simple bust like this I wasn't planning on taking it further. Maybe a head pose and the arena armor on top. Maybe even give the model out for people to print? I dunno. Last thing I want is for people to use the model for porn, so probably not.
Makkon: Some old lines, a few unused outfit designs, and another stab at the cloak I never posted. Also one naked cat for good measure (but also to show how I draw clothes over the figure)
Makkon: We know you kids like seeing this cat in various levels of undress (some more over the line of questionable than others). Featureless Nudity: Shredded Edition.
These are the undersketches of my Official_Badass entries. I always start with the figure and add clothes over top, which I'm told is a standard workflow.
Makkon: unused sketches, poses, and concepts of Katia in pieces I never finished. Top row went through a lot of iterations for the "I'm a mage bitch!" pose, which had promise but never worked out.
Makkon: Are cleanup/redo uploads okay? Hope ya'll don't mind, I'm compiling an art book and Kaz gave me permission to include some fanart I've done of his comic. Not sure if I'll include this one, but I figured I'd clean it up first before I decide to use it.
Makkon: for the record this nudity still doesn't qualify as sexual in nature (though the pineapple has me concerned). Up to the mods if they're okay with visible genitalia.
Makkon: @Unidentified_BA: @Grape: As a married man, and someone who studies anatomy, that is most certainly a vagina and not just a crease in the crotch.
Makkon: I rather like the sword.
Mind the size of your hands. Otherwise you have good proportions. Things to focus on in the coming months and years are anatomy studies and gestures. I like to use QuickPoses to practice. Nudity, of course.
http://www.quickposes.com/
At this stage it's generally hard for me to give you specific feedback, but if you keep drawing every day and strive to find what you are weak and, and work on those weaknesses, you'll improve very fast.
Makkon: @Radian: I think large issues ought to be solved earlier in the process, and smaller problems can be solved at the paintover stage. However, at the paintover stage, nothing is really stopping you from making a major change to the painting (so long as it's not a color change). Every layer prior is merged down anyway, so at that point it's nearly identical to your current method of painting; now you just have something solid to paint on.
Choosing a color for shadows should be a simple problem to solve, since you can change it completely independently from everything else at the drop of a hat, so it's okay to experiment. Generally shadows are a less saturated color of the environment, but you can usually be safe with a purple or blue color. Check out Johannes's tutorials I linked to on the first comment for more info :)
@Geravind: Yeah, I should tone that ear fluff down a bit, or at least make it match the style of the cheeks.@AMKitsune: I've had a lot of people ask, and I've had a number of false starts with streaming and recording. I have a computer that is capable of it now (painting in 16k is a breeze, though not recommended) so I could give it another shot. If I were to upload timelapsed videos I could probably make an alternate youtube channel, since my primary one is for music. I'll give it some thought.
@Radian: Yeah, it was about an hour since it was just a simple bust demonstration, and I wasn't designing something new like an outfit.
@Riddle78: No! Not the earfloof! You'll unravel the fabric of time!
Makkon: @Radian: It might take some getting used to, but the benefit is pretty big. This is still sculpting the form of your character, but you get to tackle one thing aspect of the rendering at a time instead of all at once. Think of it like how you might composite a 3d render in a film
If you're not quite feeling this one, you might like the way my buddy Max Grecke paints. He still separates his lighting by layers, but the way he goes about it is still a lot closer to what you might be used to.
https://gumroad.com/maxgrecke
This one is like taking a black and white photo with one light source and adding color and other light sources over it. It does make it much easier to render softer or more ambient lighting conditions, but you have less control over material types and it'll always look like you colored in a BW image (because you did).
I demonstrate something similar (with my own approach) to that here:
http://makkon.tumblr.com/post/136246423103/steps-from-my-previous-painting-hope-someone
For me, however, I find this method a lot harder to control color and contrast between materials, which is something very important to me.
And example of the difference in results, first is Johannes's Method, last is Max's method
With Johannes, you get better color and it's easier to make changes, with Max you get more control over the shading and form but very little control over color.
Makkon: I wanted to make a step-by-step of how I render paintings sometimes. Sorry for image compression, the file would have been huge.
PLEASE REFER TO THIS ARTIST FOR MORE INFORMATION. He's a lot better at it than I am and he's a better teacher.
Johannes Helgeson
http://helgesonart.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-formula-step-by-step.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Cu2OUPLsU
Makkon: @Radian: Also forgot to mention that Johannes eliminates the many-layers problem by making a "selections layer" where every part he'd need to have separated for masking is just a colorful, easy to select color with the magic wand. I haven't become too comfortable with that method yet, but it works great for him.
Also, all of these lighting layers get's flattened down to be painted over in the end, these layers seldom give you the final result you need. They give you a solid base to work from tremendously faster and easier than the traditional way I think. Give it a shot!
Makkon: @Radian: Matt's method is pretty useful, and it is the classic way of doing it. The way I paint is pretty far into left field, but I find it preferable compared to Matt's method that I used to do, wherein I'd find myself getting hung up on details too soon and it was hard to make large changes.
For example, if you need to change the color of your subject, you have a lot of work to do when it's all merged and you have colored directional or ambient light affecting the colors (like in most conditions). Hue-shift or overlay just doesn't cut it. If you want to change the direction of your lightsource, you might as well start over. The method I use lets me make pretty drastic changes to the subject at any time without the need for a full paintover or completely reworking entire sections of the image. It also naturally gives me great colors, so I don't have any guesswork.
For reference, my friend Johannes Helgeson paints using this method and gets very fast and consistently good results.
https://www.artstation.com/artist/helgesonart
Here's a tutorial about how he paints, pretty much identical to my process give or take a few layers. Warning, nudity:
http://helgesonart.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-formula-step-by-step.html
Makkon: @Radian: I end up merging layers to paint over later ;)
But yeah, give it a shot, it is a lot easier to process the lighting and rendering when you take it one aspect at a time.
Makkon: @Vidiotdragon: Normally I'm able to get back some of the expressiveness of the lines back when I'm in the paintover stage of rendering, but it was 5am by the time I got there on this one. Didn't work out the way I planned.
@Grape: Go ahead, I'm okay with it. You can remove the background layer and make stickers, even, if you want.
@angrybacteria: Thanks! This particular illustration was always with spears, the other drawings I've done could be painted but I didn't see the need. I think I might try rendering some of the others.
@Radian: Excluding lines, which I spent a lot of time on, painting took about 3 or 4 hours. Since it was 2 characters, that increases time a lot. The most tedious part was the flat colors, which I use to make selections and masks while I paint on the shadow/light layers. That's why there's so many separated layers for body parts, and why they're labeled (so I can find them) it just makes painting easier and faster.
Waking up today, I realize that a PSD is cool to look through but doesn't exactly explain much. I can make a quick step-by-step if anyone is interested.
Makkon: I should have finished this long before I got tired of it. Now there's so many things I hate about it.
I painted this specifically to share the PSD. I have most layers labeled, except for the lines layers. Let me know if you have any questions.
The file is 420mb. What luck!
http://www.mediafire.com/download/w9ff5xcsmw14jaa/04-24-2016_katiabadass4_2.zip
Makkon: @Radian: That may be a matter of preference, I like the style and forcefulness of this one more. It has character to it, it's more refined, and the shape language is consistent with Quill-Weave next to her. I appreciate your feedback, though.
Here's the old one in case you still wanted it and for comparrison:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5301613/2016/04-24-2016_katiabadass4_2_nude.png
Makkon: @Radian: Well I mean, you don't have to draw an outfit over them to color it. Color them nude! Make a nude OC recolor!
@Riddle78: That particular spear is badass and I might change this one now after having seen it. What she has now is just a spear with a crossguard though.
@Vidiotdragon: I tried looking those names up but just got really mixed results on google. Who are they?
If I posted up more lineart without colors, would people be interested in coloring them? They don't all have to be nude. :S
Makkon: This is a progress shot of a newer piece I'm working on. I'm sharing it now (with some cleaned up anatomy) because I want to see people's reactions, I want people to color it and draw their own outfits over it, and I want the mods to have a chance to work on more concrete rules about nudity and what is acceptable content on the fanart page.
Makkon: @makingfailure: Thanks man! I'm just glad the blade ended up being just long enough to actually make a clean cut, wasn't paying attention there.
@ThatGuyWithAKhajiitWaifu: Now I have a long TES wiki entry to read. Good stuff.
@SameButDifferent: I'm curious about which aspects of the drawing is causing which reaction.
@Filthypaladin: Thanks dude! Your drawings here are really cute.
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@CoCoNO: I debated over that and tried making it smaller, and she looked a bit like a neanderthal. I'll try to find a good balance.
@makingfailure: I dunno, beyond a simple bust like this I wasn't planning on taking it further. Maybe a head pose and the arena armor on top. Maybe even give the model out for people to print? I dunno. Last thing I want is for people to use the model for porn, so probably not.
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These are the undersketches of my Official_Badass entries. I always start with the figure and add clothes over top, which I'm told is a standard workflow.
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Mind the size of your hands. Otherwise you have good proportions. Things to focus on in the coming months and years are anatomy studies and gestures. I like to use QuickPoses to practice. Nudity, of course.
http://www.quickposes.com/
At this stage it's generally hard for me to give you specific feedback, but if you keep drawing every day and strive to find what you are weak and, and work on those weaknesses, you'll improve very fast.
- Reply
- Reply
Choosing a color for shadows should be a simple problem to solve, since you can change it completely independently from everything else at the drop of a hat, so it's okay to experiment. Generally shadows are a less saturated color of the environment, but you can usually be safe with a purple or blue color. Check out Johannes's tutorials I linked to on the first comment for more info :)
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@Geravind: Yeah, I should tone that ear fluff down a bit, or at least make it match the style of the cheeks.@AMKitsune: I've had a lot of people ask, and I've had a number of false starts with streaming and recording. I have a computer that is capable of it now (painting in 16k is a breeze, though not recommended) so I could give it another shot. If I were to upload timelapsed videos I could probably make an alternate youtube channel, since my primary one is for music. I'll give it some thought.
@Radian: Yeah, it was about an hour since it was just a simple bust demonstration, and I wasn't designing something new like an outfit.
@Riddle78: No! Not the earfloof! You'll unravel the fabric of time!
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If you're not quite feeling this one, you might like the way my buddy Max Grecke paints. He still separates his lighting by layers, but the way he goes about it is still a lot closer to what you might be used to.
https://gumroad.com/maxgrecke
This one is like taking a black and white photo with one light source and adding color and other light sources over it. It does make it much easier to render softer or more ambient lighting conditions, but you have less control over material types and it'll always look like you colored in a BW image (because you did).
I demonstrate something similar (with my own approach) to that here:
http://makkon.tumblr.com/post/136246423103/steps-from-my-previous-painting-hope-someone
For me, however, I find this method a lot harder to control color and contrast between materials, which is something very important to me.
And example of the difference in results, first is Johannes's Method, last is Max's method
With Johannes, you get better color and it's easier to make changes, with Max you get more control over the shading and form but very little control over color.
- Reply
PLEASE REFER TO THIS ARTIST FOR MORE INFORMATION. He's a lot better at it than I am and he's a better teacher.
Johannes Helgeson
http://helgesonart.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-formula-step-by-step.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Cu2OUPLsU
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Also, all of these lighting layers get's flattened down to be painted over in the end, these layers seldom give you the final result you need. They give you a solid base to work from tremendously faster and easier than the traditional way I think. Give it a shot!
- Reply
For example, if you need to change the color of your subject, you have a lot of work to do when it's all merged and you have colored directional or ambient light affecting the colors (like in most conditions). Hue-shift or overlay just doesn't cut it. If you want to change the direction of your lightsource, you might as well start over. The method I use lets me make pretty drastic changes to the subject at any time without the need for a full paintover or completely reworking entire sections of the image. It also naturally gives me great colors, so I don't have any guesswork.
For reference, my friend Johannes Helgeson paints using this method and gets very fast and consistently good results.
https://www.artstation.com/artist/helgesonart
Here's a tutorial about how he paints, pretty much identical to my process give or take a few layers. Warning, nudity:
http://helgesonart.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-formula-step-by-step.html
- Reply
But yeah, give it a shot, it is a lot easier to process the lighting and rendering when you take it one aspect at a time.
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@Grape: Go ahead, I'm okay with it. You can remove the background layer and make stickers, even, if you want.
@angrybacteria: Thanks! This particular illustration was always with spears, the other drawings I've done could be painted but I didn't see the need. I think I might try rendering some of the others.
@Radian: Excluding lines, which I spent a lot of time on, painting took about 3 or 4 hours. Since it was 2 characters, that increases time a lot. The most tedious part was the flat colors, which I use to make selections and masks while I paint on the shadow/light layers. That's why there's so many separated layers for body parts, and why they're labeled (so I can find them) it just makes painting easier and faster.
Waking up today, I realize that a PSD is cool to look through but doesn't exactly explain much. I can make a quick step-by-step if anyone is interested.
- Reply
I painted this specifically to share the PSD. I have most layers labeled, except for the lines layers. Let me know if you have any questions.
The file is 420mb. What luck!
http://www.mediafire.com/download/w9ff5xcsmw14jaa/04-24-2016_katiabadass4_2.zip
- Reply
I much prefer the lines over the actual painting, the character's faces still retain clear shapes.
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Cute post too!
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Here's the old one in case you still wanted it and for comparrison:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5301613/2016/04-24-2016_katiabadass4_2_nude.png
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@Riddle78: That particular spear is badass and I might change this one now after having seen it. What she has now is just a spear with a crossguard though.
@Vidiotdragon: I tried looking those names up but just got really mixed results on google. Who are they?
If I posted up more lineart without colors, would people be interested in coloring them? They don't all have to be nude. :S
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@ThatGuyWithAKhajiitWaifu: Now I have a long TES wiki entry to read. Good stuff.
@SameButDifferent: I'm curious about which aspects of the drawing is causing which reaction.
@Filthypaladin: Thanks dude! Your drawings here are really cute.